However, he record companies only want one way to exist for delivery and/or promotion and one entity to control it…there can be no competition in distribution or promotion, otherwise they’ll lose their obscene profits….

Monopolies tend to fight tooth and nail from opening up their markets to competition, and their allocative efficiency is horrendous when compared to competitive markets, price discrimination can also exist, which for the consumer is terrible (ie Apple charges UK customers more than N American customers for a tune)

Now that the barriers of entry into the distribution and promotion of music, movies etc are quickly vanishing, the entertainment industry is scambling to erect legal barriers through underhanded spin-doctoring, buying politicians, and outright deception and fear-mongering.

TT

If iTunes became a record label, you might find that they imposed unpleasant DRM on their customers, overcharge for the product and ensure that only *their* hardware played the music from *their* artists available from *their* store in *their* format.

Oh. Right. Just like now then.

Face it. Now that Apple are in the media distribution business they are now part of the problem. No matter how much the Apple zealots would rather believe that they’re beloved supplier is just a pour victim of the pigopolist cartel like their customers.

Just Say No To DRM.

A technology-based record label would likely be much more P2P-friendly, perhaps even going as far as turning the music business upside down by transforming the concept of commercial music into a purely promotional vehicle for driving sales of their hardware products, with sales of tracks being offered more as a ‘bottled water’-type convenience to consumers.