I happen to fancy anything that takes place in the digital music world. I believe that the music business is doing well, however, the record business needs to discover new business models ASAP to save itself from spirally uncontrollably. Jamendo is a site that a buddy forwarded to me that allows for independent artists to distribute their music on P2P services and typical "hot" Web2.0 trinkets are included.
I really don't see a play here. Users can donate to Jamendo bands - but Jamendo as a company makes its money off of advertising space. In order to make serious money off ads, you must have traffic - and with only 415 hours of music under Jamendo currently (per their stats), they're going to have to do a bit better. Jamendo is betting that they'll distribute the music under a new "creative commons license" and in turn, bands music will get out freely, and more people will go to the bands concerts. In theory, that happens... but generally, these bands are non-national acts, in which most of the time, they only play in a 100 mile radius of their homes. How will these bands play 'out' enough to get money flowing in.... I give this under 12 months....
