Music execs may not like downloads, but they can’t stop them taking over. From Napster to In Rainbows, Alexis Ong explains how CDs and even record labels are becoming dinosaurs in the digital age

Even for a seasoned music pirate, the internet can be a rough place. With the legal spotlight fixed firmly on the online music debate – is downloading songs ‘stealing’, or the new age of distribution? – the average MP3 hunter has become too paranoid to explore beyond local site Soundbuzz and the iTunes store. Nonetheless, key industry players like Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails and EMI head Guy Hands say the time is ripe for bands and fans to embrace digital music. Will tales of single mothers being sued for downloading the odd tune keep people from clicking? Or are music executives just making examples out of them to keep you quaking in your boot(legging)s?

The debate begins with the dawn of the digital music revolution: in 1999 Shawn Fanning, a student at Boston’s Northeastern University, created Napster, a P2P program (see Glossary below) that made downloading easy for novices. However, record labels and bands – most notoriously Metallica – raged against this new technology that allowed anyone with an internet connection to share their music for free. By the time Napster was sued and shut down, it was too late: the public had developed a taste for downloading. Since then, file-sharing technology has only improved. And with most musicians seeing the benefits of going online, many labels are scrambling to revamp traditional business models that focus on physical record sales.

Steve Aoki, DJ and owner of indie label Dim Mak, and Philadelphia-based Diplo are just two artists who have branched out beyond CD sales to earn their keep. ‘It’s just there are other ways record labels can thrive…you just have to be creative and innovative with it, and be very current with how people are getting music,’ Aoki says. ‘We just released MSTRKRFT’s new single…at the same time we brought it on iTunes to sell, we gave it away on our website.’ Diplo agrees: ‘As a label owner, you have to stay current and give people what they want.’ And what people want is affordable, easily available music. While some artists remain staunchly opposed to the digital revolution (there’s the tiny issue of copyright infringement), others have found ways to turn a profit by rebranding themselves.

Icons like Madonna and Jay-Z have signed multi-million-dollar performance contracts with events company LiveNation, confirming the massive cash potential in touring. There’s also the veritable pot o’ gold in merchandising – a fine example being Dim Mak’s clothing line endorsed by Lindsay Lohan and Aoki’s model sister Devon. UK-based MCPS-PRS Alliance – an independent organisation that collects royalties on behalf of composers, publishers and songwriters – announced that 2007 digital formats trumped analogue (tapes, CDs, vinyl) with a profit of US$20 million – a rise attributed to live shows and related licensing activity.

But it’s Radiohead that’s set the bar when it comes to harnessing the power of the internet. Last year, the band gave the music industry a spanking by independently releasing their new album In Rainbows online, where fans chose how much to pay for it (if anything at all). Purchases were made through Radiohead’s merchandise site w.a.s.t.e. (www.waste.uk.com), so profits clinked directly into their pockets. Their radical experiment revolutionised the perceived market value of music, with frontman Thom Yorke declaring: ‘The time is at hand when you have to ask why anyone needs [a record label]. And yes, it probably would give us some perverse pleasure to say “F*** you” to this decaying business model.’

New ‘It’ bands are now unearthed on independent blogs and sites like MySpace, Amie Street (www.amiestreet.com) and www.showcaseyourmusic.com, with talent scouts trawling the web rather than relying on press reps at labels. The UK’s biggest music retailer Woolworths has stopped selling CD singles, with commercial director Jim Batchelor announcing that ‘digital downloading is now the true customer choice’. Even old-school rockers like The Cure have seen the digital light by releasing their 13th studio album online, one single at a time, on the 13th of every month until September.

Ultimately, no-frills digital marketing – aka ‘pulling a Radiohead’ – helps to drive proceeds directly to the band instead of via publicists and agencies. And though the income-crushing spectre of ‘piracy’ is already growing prominent, file-sharing technology like BitTorrent (see Glossary) still thrive. So get clicking – we’re living in a material world, but digital music may soon make the peripherals immaterial. After all, if you can’t find what you want in stores, there’s always the internet.

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Glossary
P2P (peer-to-peer file sharing)
A system that allows users to share files located on their computers (as opposed to uploading files to web-based servers).

BitTorrent
A relatively new P2P system that allows users to share large files without affecting their bandwidth (transfer rate of data). Inquisitive minds can check out www.utorrent.com/beginners-guide.php.

Freebies
• RCRD LBL (www.rcrdlbl.net)
Free MP3s from the music industry’s best and brightest.
• The Hood Internet (www.thehoodinternet.com)
Free mixtapes from this Chicago-based duo.
• The Hype Machine (www.hypem.com)
Collates the best and brightest music blogs and serves it up in a cute interface. Good for rare remixes.

• Muxtape (www.muxtape.com)
Create your own 12-track digital mixtape or browse a rainbow of lovingly crafted mixes to get your fix.
• Sigur Rós’ first single ‘Gobbledigook’ off their album Meoˇ suoˇ í eyrum vioˇ spilum endalaust (which translates as ‘With a Buzz in Our Ears We Play Endlessly’) is available at www.sigurros.com.

• Stereogum (www.stereogum.com)
Popular indie blog that carries the latest music videos and previews of new songs.
• Wemix.com (www.wemix.com)
Online community co-founded by rapper Ludacris to help new artists promote their music. Bonus: you could get signed to Luda’s label, Disturbing Tha Peace.