Many good people are working on their own alternatives to Amazon’s proposed locker service (Michael Robertson, for example), but it’s nice to see a heavyweight take on the music industry regarding lockers, places where one can store their music and access it at any location they wish to.  The music industry, record labels especially, will either have to get on board or watch their sales plummet due to continued piracy.  The rip-off game is stopping, whether they like it or not.

Billboard Magazine’s Ed Christman discusses the topic further here.

In a case of absolute hypocrisy, Michael Robertson and MP3 Tunes makes the allegation that EMI, who breathe fire on upload services like Rapidshare, are using Rapidshare to to give away music themselves. Read the full article at P2P.net.

Of course they are. Google is about to raise the stakes in the digital downloads game and finally give Apple a run for its money.

The headline’s a shame, as those same execs have done much to ruin the business, peddling crap to people who don’t get a chance to hear what else is out there to listen to. Still, if it keeps the RIAA and their ilk from harassing students and housewives who download a couple of tracks, so much the better.

What a fitting tribute, and a hell of a combo. Check it out, courtesy of Pitchfork Magazine!

An interesting new place to check out music, and buy (so you don’t have to feel like you’re stealing from ‘The Man’).

Kathy Sandler of the Wall Street Journal reports that Virgin is working on a partnership to try to end music piracy.  Good luck.  At least they can be commended for trying out new business models, because, let’s face it, the old models are dead.

I have to admit that it came as a shock to me when I read that the founders of The Pirate Bay were jailed for running their torrent site, but it seems that a retrial is in order, thanks to the judge having a conflict of interest in the case.

The BBC has more on the story here.

Zack Whittaker of ZDNet points out the RIAA’s atrocious behavior in harassing kids who download music. It’s getting so bad that some of the targets of this treatment are contemplating suicide.

Are you feeling disenchanted with the selection of music from iTunes? There are many wonderful options, but the most intriguing one I’ve come across is an Icelandic company called Gogo Yoko. What makes them different? A couple of things, really. First, the customer (read: you!) decides the price of the download. You give what you feel it’s work. The model was tested by Radiohead to a rather successful end. Next, there is the nice fact that a cut of the proceeds go to charity and get artists to contribute to things they wish to support. Take a look at their site. They’ll be set to do a big push shortly, I gather. It’s my hope that they dominate the indie download market someday.