In the wireless industry, subscription growth is crucial as carriers joust for the few remaining people who do not already own cellphones.
One problem is that domestic publishers are not participating in any meaningful way in two of the hottest parts of the global video game industry: subscription-based online gaming and trade-ins of used games.
Some of the key points that drove the discussion included the "two music industries," subscription services, and the mixed blessing of social networking.
Last year Mr. Rogers, an Internet and music consultant who has worked on both sides of the business (for the technology company Nullsoft and for the Beastie Boys), distributed on the Internet a scathing condemnation of the industry's subscription services.
Despite that, Doug Morris, chief executive of the Universal Music Group, is optimistic, predicting that the industry's subscription-based online offerings, which recently began to allow CD burning, will provide a lucrative source of secondary revenue -- enough to rival the sale of compact discs.
On September 17, 2007, The New York Times announced that it would stop charging for access to parts of its Web site, effective at midnight the following day, reflecting a growing view in the industry that subscription fees cannot outweigh the potential ad revenue from increased traffic on a free site.
Some want the industry to offer subscriptions for bundles of books, much as universities buy their academic journals.
A number of music companies are dabbling with subscription services, but these have failed to smother the free file-swapping sites.Can the industry find a subscription model that music-lovers will use?
More promising for the industry, however, are subscription-based offerings, including Spotify, Rhapsody and Muve Music.
