With a pitch that evokes the heady days of 1999, a digital music start-up is planning to launch a distribution service next month, inspired in equal parts by iTunes, Friendster and eBay... the newcomer is putting a twist on digital music sales, hoping to spur the creation of like-minded, music-loving minicommunities that can help sell new bands and artists to each other. [News.com]

6:33:24 PM    

LOS ANGELES -- Lawsuits launched against individuals for illegal file-sharing appear to have tempered activity on the more popular peer-to-peer networks, new U.S. research released this week shows.

Nielsen//NetRatings, which tracks Internet usage, said on Tuesday it found a 41 percent drop over the last three months in the audience for Kazaa, the leading music file-sharing service. [Wired.com]

I have long felt that the most likely path of evolution for the file sharing universe is that a combination of legal muscle, plus convenient means to download music and pay for it, would marginalize "piracy" to the point that it is manageable.

It's like speeding on the highway. Speed limits, and speeding tickets, don't eliminate speeding. But they keep it down to a level that is considered manageable. Similarly, there will always be people illicitly sharing copyrighted music. But it will be brought down to a level where a music industry based largely on paying for recorded music will still exist.

I think this is the scenario that is slowly but steadily playing out.
6:36:47 AM