But what about Johnny Cash?

Bear with me; this may take some time to explain.

Not a few years ago, around about the time that music companies decided it would be a good idea to sue customers as well as file sharing sites, various people began warning that record companies were in a terminal decline. The internet - particularly the ability to find, download and copy pretty much any piece of pop music - had put paid to a business model that has endured since the first companies started printing sheet music.

Not many people took notice. There are a couple of reasons for this. Firstly, record companies are not the sort of things that most musicians or music fans tend to have warm feelings for. Search for EMI, and the first page will be a collection of EMI's corporate web sites. Search for Apple, and the first page includes Slashdot's Apple minisite and the Wikipedia entry. Secondly, record companies, despite what they did to musicians, fans and downloaders, had a point; by downloading an MP3 of a commercial track, people were breaking copyright laws.

However, now a couple of things have changed. Firstly, artists have
begun to behave in a different manner. Secondly, the way we buy music -
specifically over the internet - is on the cusp of change.

A recent article in Prospect explains the problem that record companies have got themselves into, and how artists are behaving differently. The value that comapnies can extract from each CD sale has declined - as has the margin artists make from such sales. As a result, the music itself is now no longer the core product. Merchandise and touring seem to be becoming the best way for a recording artist to make a living, not actual album sales.

The second thing here is that we buy music differently. For example, many people now cherry pick songs. Of course, on top of that, albums have become incredibly cheap to buy online, partly because of the lower cost of distribution, and partly to compete with free (albeit illegal) downloads. On top of this, record companies are increasingly beholden to the market's 600lb gorilla - ITunes Music Store.

All of which helps set the scene for the point I'm going to belabour. Last week, a company that hardly anyone has heard of, Gbox, suddenly popped up out of nowhere as a key partner to the world's largest music company, Universal.

Universal is testing the waters of DRM-free music tracks - read the announcement here. Tracks sold through Universal's partners will be watermarked, but will not be protected by DRM. Basically, Universal wants to measure how much of the music it sells is shared online.

The real beauty of all of this is as follows; Universal will buy keywords ads for its artists' music on Google, and then push buyers through to Gbox. Gbox isn't really a destination per se, like iTunes Music Stores or Amazon's fabled MP3 store. Instead, click on the ad, and your Gbox wishlist - which appears in all the usual Web 2.0 places - is updated to say that you'd like to have a certain track bought for you.

Not only has the Web disintermediated the music industry, but Google and Gbox have neatly sidestepped the idea of a conventional online store.

And Johny Cash? Well, he enjoyed a late blossoming thanks to a record producer. Cash was far to old to tour, and merchandise wasn't really his thing. If the Prospect article is right, one wonders what happens to artists who sell records, rather than tour or flog geegaws.