Ponca City, We Love You writes "For years, the major record labels have fought a pitched battle against the MP3 format and although major labels like EMI and the Universal Music Group have embraced the MP3 format in recent months, a story from the Mercury News says early returns from those moves indicate they've had little impact on the industry's fortunes — for better or for worse. "These are ailing businesses on their last legs," said Eric Garland, chief executive of BigChampagne, a market research company focused on digital media. The question of copy protection on song downloads "matters a whole lot less to them than it once did." The industry has a bigger problem. Consumers used to buy CDs for $10 or $15 a pop. Increasingly, they're buying songs at about $1 apiece instead. So, even if transactions continue to increase, the industry is seeing far less money each time consumers buy and it's having a difficult time making up the difference. By potentially encouraging more music sales, moving to MP3s may be one piece of the answer to the industry's problem but it's not the only one. Instead, the industry's going to have to explore other ideas, including advertising-supported music, promotional relationships and subscriptions."
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