Digital Music Industry Profits

     Does anyone remember Napster?  College techies created it to "swing the pendulum of equality" against the Music Industry.  I'm sure you remember paying $20+ for CDs of music.  (Before that, cassette tapes cost less and required more manufacturing of parts.  So, the CDs--which cost only $0.02 to make--were a ripoff of price gouging to the public).  $20-26 for a CD of only 10-18 tracks of songs!  You often had to buy the whole album in order to get just one favorite song!

    Then, computers arrived with CD burners, and folks started saving money by making their own compilations and illegally copying (sometimes reselling) music & videos.  Napster was invented to allow the free sharing of music, and it was the first to do it online!  

     The powerful$ music industry shut down Napster.  Soon after, the inspired employees of Apple Computer created iTunes.  The music industry screamed again about their potential bankruptcy.  (That's probably because they're a bunch of short-sighted, dull, bloated "middle men" who don't really assist the growth of music: they just suck up profits to support their swivel chairs and expense accounts).  [Also as described in the 2013 film "Begin Again" about  music artists and the industry].  

     Yet, as time has shown, iTunes still allows the music industry to charge up to (probably soon beyond) $1.29 per song.  And at NO manufacturing cost!  No CDs, no CD cases, no paper album covers, and no need to ship things to music stores (hence, less low-level payroll for employees).  They don't have to produce anything: it's all digitally done!  Distribution, advertising, payments, and feedback collection is all electronic.  It's also much faster to make profits, since buyers can access new releases immediately via their hand-held devices.  

     Easily we can see that the "professionals" should never have cried "poverty": they were set to make even more money.  Perhaps they'll think of forestalling any more price increases on iTunes?