So hes been hired to look into ways to distiribute music freely. I think the profit must come from public appearances and merchandising. I can see this as being a bit of a nail in the coffin for the up and comers and increasing the industries hold onto that which they was losing. When top quality music is freely available legally I think it is only going to make it harder for the unknown artist to make a ripple let alone a wave in the great ocean of music that is going to happen. Im really reconsidering my dream of making hiphop full time as it is becoming a harder and harder thing to acheive due to oversaturation of the potential market. I see a lot of really talented unsigned artists out there and they do it in their spare time because they cannot afford to do it full time, or to publicise like the big labels/corporations can. Im pretty sure he will be using his google contacts as an advertising medium for EMI.
Its okay for big corporations to give away music for free as they have other sources of income that outweigh the costs involved in distributing music for free. Whereas the average wannabee producer/artist doesnt have that luxury at all. But yet still has to put in the time and buy the equiptment, clear samples, advertise etc.
I can see this being one of the stepping stones towards the industry taking back its dominance and control of the music(the message being put out). The corporations want us to be brain dead consumers so any message that speaks truth and intelligence has long been silenced. Hence the state of hiphop.