Music is a product.

A service that delivers it is a service.

I find it very strange that people consider the web as if it is a totally alien evironment.

Example. Let's say it is 1970. I went out to the local Zayes and bought a 45 from Neil Diamond.

That is a product.

Now let's say I run a restaurant. And I ask Muzak to pipe music into my restaurant and they happen to play Sweet Caroline, from Neil Diamond.

That is a service.

Now I COULD make a recording of that song by hooking up my reel to reel recorder up to the muzak system. Which would mean I spend the next few hours rigging it up. Or I could buy the 45.

Then we have to ask ourselves, how valuable is our time?

Is it worth a a buck for a 45? Or is it worth more than a buck?

This is the same situation we have now. Its just not Muzak and its not a 45 and dear god I hope its not bloody Neil Diamond.

People have to stop thinking as if the net was some sort of new mystical thing that was dropped in our laps by gods from another dimension.

Music on the net is either sold like a record or CD or a Wax cylinder used to sold in the store. Or it is given as a service like radio, muzak or outdoor block party or concert.

There is no change in how we this works. The issue is that people think it is different simply because they WANT it to be different due to the net.

Hell you can even correlate the buying of music while never leaving your home as the same as order from a catalog. And listening to music while never leaving home as watch a TV concert or listening to the radio.

The methods are the same, the names have changed.

Cursor_

“Service: A service provision is an economic activity that does not result in ownership…it is intangible” - wikipedia

I think your examples between the 45 and Muzak are valid. But in the history of media, the web in fact presents a new medium for which we can consume, share and broadcast information.

It's irrelevant whether people think the internet was "dropped in our laps by gods" or that people may "WANT it to be different due to the net."

Right now music is legally streamed - as a service - for free all over the internet on sites like seeqpod.com, myspace.com and last.fm. So regardless of how we feel, the technology and economy will eventually decide for us.

Mr. Cursor_ is right, a music recording whether embodied physically or digitally is a product. The distribution of it is a service.

And copyrightable material has always been a public good, as are all ideas and their embodiments. If I obtain someone's music(or any IP) they still have it, but so do I now. IP as a public good in digital form with nearly ubiquitous internet connectivity is just so much more difficult to control access to unlike roads or an education (you have to be a citizen(or some other authorized person) and/or pay taxes).

But it has to be paid for, because it still costs to produce it even if its distribution is effectively close to zero. The fight is just over how and how much should be paid.

@Cornelius - You have a good point "The distribution of it is a service".
Great overall response!

This is all a question of semantics. All I wanted was a facility where I could listen to a recording of my favorite artist and not have to worry about tape breaking, or vinyl and CD scratching, which would bring an end to my enjoyment of hearing the recording. Now I have the ability to make multiple backups of the recording, and play it back in multiple locations. The recording is the Product, because it has been produced by the artist. A Service would be where the publishing company maintains contact with me and offers me more material by the same artist as it is released.