Derek and I had a conversation with Jim Butler at the City of Austin about our focus on “the science of music,” and that conversation morphed into a discussion of the future of music. Jim pointed out a 2005 book about “a future in which music will be like water: ubiquitous and free-flowing.” We’re already headed in that direction. The book, called The Future of Music: Manifesto for the Digital Music Revolution, is probably already out of date – a lot’s happened since it was released in 2005. However it points in an interesting direction. From the Publisher’s Weekly review:

Kusek and Leonhard foresee the disappearance of CDs and record stores as we know them in the next decade; consumers will have access to more products than ever, though, through a vast range of digital radio channels, person-to-person Internet file sharing and a host of subscription services. The authors are especially good at describing how the way current record companies operate – as both owners and distributors of music, with artists making less than executives – will also drastically change: individual CD sales, for example, will be replaced by “a very potent ‘liquid’ pricing system that incorporates subscriptions, bundles of various media types, multi-access deals, and added-value services.”