How the Press is Schooling the Record Industry on Distributing

Just over a decade ago, if you wanted to obtain a copy of a song, you had two options: go to your local record store and pay around $12, or download it illegally.  Today, there are a variety of legitimate options covering the middle ground that were previously unavailable to music consumers (indeed, enough for Wired to presumptively proclaim “the age of stealing music via the Internet is officially over”).  However, the interesting part about this progression is that the record companies, those that had everything to do with igniting the initial physical widespread distribution of music, have had nothing to do with this new digital way forward.  And as many of us have noticed, they are now paying the price for their failure to explore new technological avenues in distributing intellectual property.