Remember where you heard about them first. This board of course !

The march for a 'profitable' free distribution of music has taken a big leap with Sony/BMG signing with We7 to offer their catalogue for ad sponsored streaming.

This is fantastic and makes complete sense. However, the Majors need to get their head out of the sand. By opting for 'free' streaming as opposed to 'free' downloading the labels are shooting themselves in the feet.

The technology is available that allows people to convert streaming audio into downloads at the click of a button. This is disastrous in that the payment per stream is a fraction of a pence as opposed to a round 5p for free download. If we assume that the public will listen once or twice before 'converting' it to a download, then by blindly thinking that the streaming model is better than the free downloading model they are terrbly mistaken.

Regardless of this reservation it is a step in the right direction.