Chris Anderson, editor-in-chief of Wired Magazine, is right: the music industry is not in trouble. It is just CD sales that are down: everything else, from concerts to ringtones to licensing for commercials,is soaring.

Finally, after years spent wondering about how the music industry was going to catch up with the infinite opportunities presented by the web, something is moving. And it is not being done by business strategists but by the creative core of the industry: artists.

Radiohead, offering their new album for download at any price, just made it visible by leveraging their status, but they are not alone: Prince has given away his Planet Earth CD with a Sunday newspaper, the Charlatans announced this week that their next album will be available as a free download (the single "You cross my path" is already out to grab).

For once, Italy is not falling behind: on the contrary, we witnessed here one of the most brilliant examples of radical innovation in the distribution model. If I remember correctly, it dates back to 2004, when the best Italian band (I’m serious, I do think that they rule) began to offer their whole repertoire for download to the members of their club: the price of a massive amount of high-quality music is a minimal 10€ subscription fee (which includes discounts for other offerings, such as instant-CDs and DVDs, created and sold at the end of their concerts).

I am not linking a YouTube video: I paid the membership fee, I downloaded everything (music and video) and I’m not willing to help violate any single bit of such a generous license agreement.