http://tags.gawker.com/assets/base/img/thumbs140x140/gawker.com.png http://gawker.com/tag/valleywag/rickrubin http://gawker.com/tag/valleywag/rickrubin Not everyone thinks that Columbia Records chief Rick Rubin's proclamation of a music subscription future is crazy. Universal Music is currently exploring the subscription business model, according to Digital Music News's sources. The initiative, known as TotalMusic, would tie digital music to Internet service providers — forcing all internet users to pay for music, regardless of whether they'll actually use it. Apparently this idea isn't too popular with Internet service providers, because it would increase costs (ESPN 360 has suffered similar problems in its attempt to pass costs onto ISPs instead of the end user). No doubt Universal Music views TotalMusic as a brilliant solution to piracy woes — if everyone is forced to pay for music, none would pirate. Of course, that logic posits that everybody pirates ... and everyone wants Universal's music.

]]> http://gawker.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=298804&view=rss&microfeed=true "The iPod will be obsolete," says Rick Rubin, co-head of Columbia Records. In order to combat file sharing, the recording industry needs to operate on a subscription model, he says: "You'd pay, say, $19.95 a month, and the music will come anywhere you'd like. In this new world, there will be a virtual library that will be accessible from your car, from your cellphone, from your computer, from your television," he explains. Oh, you mean already extant services like Napster, Rhapsody, or Yahoo Music? [The New York Times]

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