Hello ukmusic users I'm new so I guess I best introduce myself my names Andy, I'm 18 and I'm a Web Developer/Graphic Designer/Programmer with way too much free time. The whole digital music phenomenon has had me quite interested for a while and i still think it has a long way to go, since I'm more than qualified to take up the task I've decided ill take a shot at creating a new digital music store myself.. and a bloody good one at that! I've got a few principles that I want to stick to so I may as well get started with what I have in mind for artists

The whole idea of artists getting as little as 4.5p for very track sold on iTunes is a joke, independent musicians and record labels should get a fair deal from selling their music on-line. The major cost of selling music on-line is the transaction fee which differs depending on the cost of the order, the higher the cost of the order (even if it includes different artists) the more revenue the artist should make from each track sold, this may sound stupid but I've worked out that an order of £1 has a transaction cost of 23p and an order of £2 has a cost of 26p, the benefits that artists could receive from this are HUGE! Of course customers should not be forced to purchase multiple tracks but if they wish to do so then surely then the artists revenue share should reflect this. So far I've got the following plans:

For the artist
-Easy account creation
-Their own page (myspace esq)
-Promotional assistance
-Payment by paypal(?)
-Relative fees, an order totalling £1 = 25%, £3 = 15%, £10 = 10% £100 = 5%. (estimated)
-Ability to give away freebies, mix tapes etc to draw customers in.
-The ability to sell music by different licences (e.g. Commercial Use)

Now for the customers, I'm one of those firm believers that file sharing is so popular not because of the cost but because of the freedom, I mean why pay £10 for a horrible DRM ridden cd that wont let you copy your tracks to an mp3 player, when you can download a copy of the song for free and be able to do anything you want with it? Its not the fact that people are not willing to pay for a product, its the fact that customers aren't willing to pay for a highly inferior product! When you buy music you shouldn't buy JUST the cd, you should buy the right to play the song wherever and however you like! So, here's why little list of ideas for the consumer:

- DRM Free, period. (horrible stuff!)
- Choice of format and bit-rate, let the users choose flac, wav, mp3, mp4... anything, just give it them when they want it, how they want it.
- Let users log-in online and access their music that they bought, whether it be to listen to it in through the website in full quality, download it in as a ringtone on their phone or maybe just to let them download it again (some people have 2 computers )

So anyway, your artists and consumers, what do you think of my ideas? what would make a music store appeal to you? I need your opinions and idea's and anyone who's willing to test this out would be a great help!