

At a SXSW panel called "Reinventing Payment Models for Digital Music," Cambridge-educated economist-turned-music-manager (Pink Floyd, The Clash, Ian Dury And The Blockheads, Billy Bragg) Peter Jenner put a figure on how much each music fan who buys music would have to pay for access to every song ever recorded while maintaining or increasing music sales.

He said that $50 per year from every person who listens to music would "meet or exceed the current over the counter sales of the music industry at a far lower cost," but that because of deeply-entrenched flaws in the outmoded business models used by the labels that have evolved over the years, we're unlikely ever to see such a system put in place – despite the fact that it would increase profits while allowing people far greater access to music.

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