Subscriptions don't work well for the long tail, artists that aren't extremely popular get pennies and people in SF and LA live in some sort of bubble, as subsc

Subscriptions don't work well for the long tail, artists that aren't extremely popular get pennies and people in SF and LA live in some sort of bubble, as subscriptions aren't that popular compared to personal music collections. IMHO, it's a passing trend, just like CDs and iPods. And don't get me wrong, as subscriptions are somewhat convenient, problem is they are convenient for personal usage and listening to music is often a group activity, with sharing without barriers and taking things offline being the norm. Do you know why YouTube is so popular for listening to music? It's because of things like http://www.youtube-mp3.org/ http://www.youtube-mp3.org/