Music Like Water

I read a great, short little book my last year in law school called The Future of Music: Manifesto for the Digital Music Revolution (you can buy it here on Amazon, if you're interested) and it spoke of music being like water in your life, for two reasons: 1) music would be acessible to you at all times - in your bedroom when you wake up, it would continue as you took your shower, made your breakfast, used your MP3 player on the way to work, etc.; and 2) because you would pay for it based on your "consumption" of it, just like you pay for your water. People wouldn't mind paying for music under this model, so the theory goes, because it "feels" free while you're doing it. Sure, the bill comes at the end of the month, but how much does that change our consumption of other utlities, like electricity, heat and water? Now, some may say this analogy isn't accurate because the above utilities are "necessities." I agree. However, when we want to take a bath instead of a shower just for the luxury of it, do we count the pennies? When we come home at night and it's dark (especially here in the Northeast, where it gets dark around 3:30 in the middle of winter), do we refrain from turning on the lights and opt for candles because o fthe electricity bill? No, most of us do not. Thus, while these things are "necessary" utilities in the traditional sense, our practical use of them is much more analogous and "luxury" than most of us think.

So, why shouldn't music be consumed in the same way, according to our personal use of it? Administratively, it could be burdensome - after all, how would you keep track of it if one utilizes various devices to listen to music? Is a timed basis, a per-play basis, or a unique song basis (i.e. you only pay once for a song, but can listen to it an infinite number of times). Do you have to repurchase your music every month?

A flat fee, some argue, would be easier (read this article I found today - Canada is considering this method for internet use of music). However, a flat fee comes with its problems, too - what if I only listen to 15 tracks in a month? Why should I pay the same price as someone that listens to 1,500 tracks a month? The counter argument to this is simply that the flat fee model is more analogous to how you receive your cable and/or internet (and even phone, if you still own a land line!) each month. With Comcast, you don't pay every time you turn on your TV - you only pay for the "extra" stuff. So, if I watch 5 hours of TV a day, I still pay the same price as someone who only watches 5 hours a week. And from a practical standpoint, do you ever hear people complain about this model? No, because the once-a-month fee makes it FEEL free every time we turn our TV on; even if, when it's broken down, I pay twice as much to watch TV as my neighbor does.

There's no doubt that new models will and should be welcome for the consumption of music. People don't want to pay for it anymore, so publishers and record labels need to make it "feel" free; even if it isn't. Ok music consumers, what are your thoughts?