Topic research; from the music industry point of view...

Each manufacturer within the music industry that is operating within the music distribution and technology niches are attempting to compete freely with their own proprietary systems for selling, playing and protecting music. For example, this means that music that is purchased from Microsoft’s Zune store will only play on Zune players; music purchased from Sony’s Connect store will only play on Sony’s players; and music purchased from Apple’s iTunes store will only play on iPods. With the growing problem for these manufacturers is that of piracy. For example, Software piracy (the illegal copying of software programs) in time has turned into a worldwide problem – “More than $11 billion of possible revenue to be generated by these manufacturers and the music industry, is lost to piracy every year”. Under U.S. law, this infringement could result in civil damages of up to $150,000 and/or criminal penalties of up to five years imprisonment and/or a $250,000 fine if anyone is deemed guilty of piracy. This is a route that manufacturers such as Apple would wish to avoid as it may cost them money and a part of their reputation by pursuing these type of cases.
Naturally, Apple's competitors are keen to move into this market and stamp their own markers and create their own variations and improvements to this revelation. Apple’s main competitors to emerge of recent times are Google Android Market, which was launched in October 2008, for the purpose of phones that run on the Android system, Nokia's Ovi store, and Blackberry App Store. Another that has taken on Apple’s App creation is Microsoft, who is planning to launch a Windows Marketplace near the end of 2009. A quote from Rowan of Nine inch Nails: "Nothing keeps still for very long in this field, and when you have a booming market dominated by one company, other people are going to look at it."
An article in the guardian on 25th November 2008 headlined “Beatles tracks not coming to iTunes any time soon; McCartney: Talks at an impasse”. This shows that with the introduction and exploitation of the digital age to the music industry, more bands are attempting to finalise deals to broaden and modify the way their music is being distributed and reach out to different audience demographics for increased recognition through an increasingly populating and ever changing music industry of recent times, through music companies such as Apple Inc, who are partnered to such record labels as EMI. These possible distribution channels could be online with profiles being made available about the artists and bands, and transforming the formats of their music to be made available to supply with view to profit online, in preference or to back up the method of a CD.
Another example of an artist who chose to explore this path is pop vocalist Toni Childs, who released her Emmy-winning song "Because You're Beautiful" as a single, yet chose not to employ a record label affiliation or an album to back it up. Instead, she made a deal to offer the single exclusively to iTunes, which now sells the single at 99 cents per download. A quote from Toni Childs: "This format is going to change the way we can do business across the board, It's not as necessary to have the same major kind of distributor and money behind you." It is apparent as to why Toni Childs takes this viewpoint as Apple has sold 4.6 million iPod digital music players in the fourth quarter is any indication (as of 2008), downloading music is rapidly becoming a key aspect of how not just audiences are purchasing music, but of what choices artists and bands are making as to whom they give the rights to their music for promotion, production, distribution, exhibition and sales in the music industry.