Music for the Masses

A track from the controversial Grey Album blared over the speakers as the audience entered the conference hall. On the stage sat five experts in digtial music for a discussion of "Music for the Masses" at Austin's Internet conference, SXSW Interactive. "This is probably illegal," said moderator Glenn Thomas of producingfuture.com, as he turned down the music.

Thomas proceeded to ask panelists about some of the most hotly contested subjects in digital music distribution: DRM, standardization of file formats, and users' ability to sample and remix music. Chris Bell of Apple's iTunes explained that the purpose of iTunes is not to "lockdown" content but to set up "reasonable barriers" to prevent illegal file-sharing. Unlicensed file-sharing, Tim Quirk of Real Networks' Rhapsody corrected sharply. The main difference in their viewpoints seemed to center on whether online distribution services should operate as a store, as iTunes does, or as a pipeline for people to share and exchange media. The panelists did agree on one central point: expect change. "This space changes completely every six months," noted John Jones of MusicNet.