To Combat Piracy, Music Companies Let Music Be Free

The New York Times reports that many music companies are turning to free, unlimited access to music in order to combat piracy. Rather than rely on single-song downloads to stop the erosion of CD sales, music executives are starting to embrace the free model in the realization that for-pay options will never stop piracy.

Comes With Music, from Nokia, is the most recent example of this. With a Nokia phone, users can download as many songs as they like from a catalog of 5 million songs. Services offering a similar approach are launching soon in Denmakr and the Isle of Man.

The approach is almost akin to a music tax; owners of mobile devices pay a fee and in return get access to, basically, all the music that is out there. By making the content free and ubiquitous and partnering with the distribution channels, the music companies stand to gain more than by relying on individual consumers to comply with the legal restrictions surrounding pirating music.

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