Would Free Music Sell Cars?

rhfrommn writes "An opinion piece on news.com says the old method of selling music CDs is doomed and suggests the best new method is to give away the content. No more 'piracy' or 'rights management' to worry about! The author discusses ad based models, giving music away as a promotion (buy a car, get 1000 hours of music free type stuff) and other methods. All based on cheap hardware like MP3 players as the new medium to replace CD."

Re:But would it be good?

[cdrudge]

For those who may have "forgot" it...

I want a ..........
Big Mac, Mc Blt, a Quarter-Pounder with some cheese, Fillet-o-Fish, a hamburger, a cheeseburger, a Happy Meal, Mcnuggets, tasty golden french fries, regular and larger size and salads, chef or garden, or a chicken salad oriental, Big Big Breakfast, Egg Mcmuffin, hot hotcakes and sausage, Maybe biscuits, bacon, egg and cheese and sausage, danish, hashbrown too and for dessert hot apple pies and sundaes three varieties, A soft serve cone, three kinds of shakes, and chocolately-chip cookies and to drink a Coca-Cola, Diet Coke, an orange drink, a Sprite, A coffee, a lowfat milk also an orange juice, I love Mcdonald's good time great taste, And I get this all at one place!

I beleive the jingle was released in conjunction with a $1 million prize. If you received a copy of the jingle in your Sunday paper where the musicians made it through the entire song without messing up, you won.

BTW: Was it McBLT or McDLT....I find references to both and I can't remember...

Am I dating my self?

Re:Free content for all!

[Blue Stone]

"There was no DJ break at the time, and by the time there would be one, I would no longer be in the car ... so not much chance of finding out who it was."

Well, if you'd had a DAB radio in your car (Digital Audio Broadcast) chances would be that you'd see the name of the artist and track scrolling along the little lcd screen on the front of the radio.

Also, if you had the number for that mobile service... where you dial it up and play in a few bars of the song, that would tell you what it was also.

Solving the Wrong Problem

[serutan]

The biggest flaw in this idea is that it is yet another attempt to solve the wrong problem: how to build a life support system for record companies. I wish these pundits would read and understand what musicians are saying [recordinga...lition.com] increasingly in their writings [janisian.com]: that the whole music piracy brouhaha is not about musicians, it's only about record companies, and that we really don't need record companies.

Most musicians by far make a living with paying gigs, not CD sales. Recording contracts are carefully structured so that all expenses come out of the artist's share, which ends up being zero. CD sales benefit musicians by giving them exposure which translates into gigs. A musician gets this same exposure whether someone buys a CD, listens to a song on the radio or downloads it from Kazaa.

Replacing the entire record industry with free distribution wouldn't deprive musicians of anything except the opportunity to let the record companies control their careers. And as an added bonus, it would mean one less source of big-money whispering into the ears of lawmakers.

Re:Free content for all!

[tedhiltonhead]

Many FM radio stations have had this for a long time, called Radiotext or RDS (Radio Data System). It'll display the station name, format, song title, artist, and any other data the station chooses to send. Few factory-installed receivers support this, but it's available in higher-end new cars and aftermarket.