Why should we pay to download music from iTunes or any other music provider? This is a controversial topic that’s getting a lot of press. As reported in the RAIN newsletter, Dough Morris (Universal Music chief) has teamed with Sony/BMG and is negotiating with Warner Music to form a project called Total Music. This may be a force to reckon with as they control 75% of the music sold in The United States.The business model they are proposing is to get the music device manufacturer to absorb the $5.00 per month cost of the service into the price of the device. This would add an estimated $90.00 to the cost of the device. This is a viable alternative to a subscription service.

I believe an even better alternative would be for iTunes as well as all other providers to offer music downloads for free. They could derive their profits from creative advertising presented while the music download takes place. This advertising could easily be tailored based on genre or content of music/video content being downloaded.

[tags] itunes,Dough Morris,total Music,RAIN,mp3,Miiikeee,Chris Pirillo,Lockergnome,Gnomedex [/tags]