Not that I really know anything about the music industry … But it seems that record/CD sales are down since folks have figured out how to copy, or listen to everything streaming off the Internet.  So, here is an out-of-the box idea that I’ve had for a while.  It’s a long shot, since the music industry can seem to figure out how to sell digital music very well.  This would be a even bigger stretch than having faith in selling music over a computer.  

What if you buy music in such a way that you could contribute too, and remake the song to be your own.  Instead of the computer just playing back the music, the consumer has a chance to add or modify it to make something new, exciting, and a part of themselves with their favorite artist.  In other words, you would have the ability to record a new, or modify an existing track on a artists recording.

Maybe your a musician, and you like to play along to music to learn, except now you can record yourself as part of the music.  Maybe your not a musician, but could change the original recording mix to have some tracks louder, or softer, or with different effects.  The basic idea is that your not giving the consumer an closed-end finished product, but the means to create more music and become an active participate in the music they love - to create new interpretations of music.  Rap artists somewhat seem to do this, using tracks from older music as a back beat for new music.  This would just be a more mainstream way to allow creative access to existing music.  

Selling a track of albums could easily be priced higher than a normal CD, since you have the open-ended added abilities to create new music.  The tracks, and the ability to alter and record with them could be wrapped inside a software product that could protect the original tracked copy from being stolen or copied.  You could only export a MP3 or audio copy of the finished recording that the consumer created, but the original tracks would be locked inside the software, and not accessible in it’s raw form.  

You would now have a world of individualized songs that people could share with others, but the original artist prospers from the original recording, and the airplay of those who reuse his music.  Is this genius, or just a pipe-dream?