Today's music environment is a highly complicated one. Since the introduction of Napster the music industry has been fighting the piracy war by suing consumers and implementing DRM technologies to content to prevent further stealing of copyrighted works. In the last few years, the music industry has changed its strategy, moving away from taking infringers to court and setting examples. The new approach has been looking and experimenting with new business models and reinvention in the way the industry conducted business. Artists too had to change and look at distribution in an entirely different way. The goal has always been the same. How do all the content creators get paid?

On the flipside of the equation is the consumer. Since the inception of Napster and its demise, they have been piggy-backing P2P file-sharing networks. The music industry was successful in shutting the most popular ones down but with each one they shut down, another one was created, Pirate Bay being the most recent one. Even Google tried to remove Pirate Bay from its index as an anti-piracy measure. However, Google was quick to put Pirate Bay back in their index. The consumer of today wants music right now, conveniently with no strings attached or DRM involved. The P2P networks are difficult to compete with. How can the music community compete with free? Is it possible that the music industry can figure out a way to get through to all these music lovers and converting them into sales and proponents of legal music, given that copying of creative works can no longer be stopped?

There lies the challenge and the multi-billion dollar question. The faster we forget how the music industry worked in the past, the faster we as a music community can figure out sound solutions to bring about change, value to consumers and from that earn monetization of our creative works.

The EU has been looking into the 3 strikes and you are out legislation to fight piracy as well as giving more responsibility to the ISP that is providing the internet service. Other legislations have been discussed to curb piracy but in the end the truth for the industry is that they have to embrace the "new" internet that is social and all about what is happening now as opposed to what has happened yesterday. The Twitter generation has shown that there is hunger for real-time conversations and attaining information right now. Newspapers are yesterday's news. What is the future of music?

Instead of looking at the legal system to give us the solution, the music community needs to look at itself and the product it is offering: their music. I have written an article in response to the optimistic article written by RIAA head Mitch Bainwol about state of music. I agree with him but believe the root of the success of music lies in the music itself and cultivating the superstars of tomorrow. History has shown that big artists such as Aerosmith or the Rolling Stones were successful after a few albums. Artist development is crucial. However, in the case of major labels, artists today are not given a chance to grow as musicians. It is one chance and you are out. It is all about selling music that would bring back the most profit to shareholders. Short term gain and no long term vision. Mitch Bainwol mentions that they still produce great music and he mentioned a few artists, such as Pearl Jam, Bon Jovi, KISS, Shakira, Alicia Keys, Tim McGraw, Rod Stewart. I must agree with him that some of these artists produce some great music. I just got the new Pearl Jam album and love it. However, the problem that I had with the list he portrayed was that none of these artists were musicians that have been developed in the last few years. Yes, the future of music is strong with the U2s of the world being around, but where is the new talent? The future of music? Will any new band ever pack an arena like a band like the Eagles, the Rolling Stones, Madonna or U2? The key to the music industry is the product itself: the music.

Even though great new music assures an increase of sales, the problem of file sharing and piracy still persists. How do you compete with free? How do you drive consumers to legal alternatives that are affordable, reliable, safe, easy to access and make people feel empowered when they put money in artists' pockets? The current big players in the legal digital realm, such as iTunes, do not accomplish this. The sale of iTunes songs has more to do with Apple evangelism as opposed to the music itself. Is iTunes truly global? Last time I checked, there was no iTunes store in Cyprus. You look at Real Rhapsody or Napster and once again, it becomes an interoporability issue. Hardware and compatability prevails.

I look at new services such as Spotify. You hear about how great of a product it is... in the U.K. You hear about Myspace Music launching in...  Australia and New Zealand. Where is the music industry global music initiative? How much money is left on the table? The internet is without a doubt one of the greatest inventions of mankind, connecting people in ways that has never been done before and is one of the most simple distribution methods. The problem with the music industry is that it has made it a complex system, dominated by red tape, clearing rights, collection societies and no consistent alignment of all parties involved.

The solution to the music industry dilemma is simple. All stakeholders of the music community must get together and figure out a consistent, reliable, accessable, easy to use, interoperable, affordable and truly global solution that is free from red tape. If you make it hard for the music consumer to pay for music and access it, then the results will be negative. Protecting works is important and artist must be paid for their creative works. If consumers find it difficult to pay you and they do not get the product they want right now, they will go find it elsewhere in a more convenient fashion - using illegal P2P file sharing networks.

We as a music community must get together and figure out how we can introduce one truly global solution that is of value and focus on adding value beyond just the music. Consumers are humans and they feel connected to the artists the love. If we lose the connection, fans become disconnected and could care less if the artist is getting paid or not. Somewhere along the line, the music industry has lost its connectedness with the public and the public has responded. They saying says "The customer is always right" or the "customer is king." Maybe we should listen to them and offer them some value for their money and time or else we will all be meeting in music conferences trying to figure out how to "fix" the music industry. The solution - listen to the fans and give them what they want. They will open their wallets as a result.

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