By Mary Jane Irwin, 1:20 PM on Wed Oct 10 2007, 279 views (Edit, to draft, Top, Slurp)

Copy this whole post to another site

Slurp cancel

select site advertising consumerist deadspin defamer fleshbot gay fleshbot gawker gizmodo idolator io9 jalopnik jezebel kotaku lifehacker valleywag artists gawkershop

It's time for the recording industry to embrace digital music instead of focusing on CD sales and cell-phone gimmickry (the ringle?). So says Guy Hands, CEO of Terra Firma, the new private-equity owner of EMI. About time someone said it. Radiohead leading the charge into "free" music territory with the digital release of its new album for whatever consumers are willing to pay for it, and others are following suit. EMI and other record labels risk getting cut out of the equation. The music industry needs a new business model, nowish. One suggestion by Hands: Instead of granting big advances, they should offer to subsidize recording costs in exchange for a stake in earnings.