The supremecy of the Apple iPod among portable music devices is about to be challenged by a new batch of hopefuls. The new contenders are attempting a business model different than Apple’s — in which you actually buy extensive rights to each song for 99 cents (you can burn it, run it on multiple computers or players, and such). The new services, instead, offer you full access to a massive library for a monthly fee.
The interesting question for arts managers is framed by this story in Technology Review:
Is music something you own or something you rent?
It’s not a little question. And, in fact, it cuts to the heart of how consumers perceive their transactions with cultural merchants of all kinds. When you bought a compact disc, you were buying something tangible. And you could assume you also bought a bunch of rights to use it in various ways. Also, each new purchase would add to your collection, and accrue over time.
When you lease a library of music, you have a massive library to access, but as soon as you stop paying your monthly fee, the entire library is gone. Also, each song in the library carries more restrictive rights limiting how you can use it.
Over the past decade, there’s been a similar struggle among libraries, as information suppliers and publishers have nudged them from an ownership position (purchasing physical copies of newspapers, magazines, and journals, for example) into a leaseholder (licensing access to electronic versions of these same publications). The shift has certainly relieved the shelf-space crunch that many of these libraries were facing. But it has also completely restructured their expenses and assets in ways they’re still trying to figure.
When consumers shift perspective on how they purchase creative content in one medium, it can shift how they perceive all other such transactions (theater tickets, movie tickets, event passes, and such). That’s why this particular market experiment is worth watching.
