Comment Another model (Score 1) 194
Another flat rate music distribution model (this one being voluntary) might be this one, where music files belong to the customer whose ID tags them.
First, flat rate is convenient. Flat rate is one of the reasons why IP took over - bye bye, X.25.
Then, trust the users. Even if some of them remove the ID3 tags. Even if many of them do. Piracy is part of the music ecosystem anyway. Give them ownership, give them responsibility.
Finally, you have to count the beans - how many downloads for which files from which artists. That implies centralization though a hub. There could be many distributors (think Google or your.national.isp or whoever), who would compete for the same basic service, and add additional services on top of that.
But that's sci-fi right now.