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> If 1 download is equivalent to 200 streams then ask yourself how many times on average does someone listen to a purchased song?

For most downloaded songs, a couple of times.

Most people just amass mp3 collections they rarely listen to in their entirety.

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A couple times?? Surely some people do that, but I doubt it's the majority. This is way too broad of a generalization.

I'd say, anecdotally from my own experience, that it's more of a power law distribution. Some songs/albums I listen to quite frequently, while others I listen to once and then forget about.

Suffice to say using this sort of subscription model, the hits would still be big money spinners, but for the vast majority - the long tail so to speak - wouldn't make enough to live on.

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