ok so heres the deal.
i have this paper to write on the social implications of digital music distribution. what im looking for is opinion on how you are affected by things like itunes, last.fm, etc.... i would prefer to stick to LEGAL methods since this isn't really about piracy.

a couple things id like to focus on are impulse buying (eg. shopaholics) and how you go about discovering new music.

any and all constructive inputs are welcome.

The only real input I would have is I don't really care for digital music distribution whatsoever, and if I'm going to buy music I like to actually own the physical media.

The glory that is spotify on the other hand, I love.

I bought a ton of music through Amazon.com's MP3 download store. I seriously love Amazon. Most of the music I listen to nowadays, as you know, Mr. Landfish, are from the Nordic countries, which Amazon graciously offers and other notorious DRM-restricted sites don't offer. Digital distribution is the future of music. The last CD I bought was Blind Guardian's A Tale in the Mist, which was about a year or so ago.

As for my Last.fm, the music players I use integrate with it nicely (Amarok, Audiosurf) without any third part software, and I use it primarily for scrobbling and finding people that have similar taste as me. I do occasionally find some interesting Russian music to listen to through it, but I don't have to go there much.

last.fm and pandora have introduced me to a lot of bands. I use iTunes and Amazon indiscriminately to purchase music.

Not sure if it counts but i bought a couple songs from GTAIV.

Last.fm, pandora, and my buddies mostly effect what I listen to.

last.fm has the "Music Recommended by Last.fm" section that has worked pretty well so far. It shows you 4 artists along with who from your own library they sound like. Ive listened to a few things out of there that I really like.

Pandora helps me find new things, but not as much as last.fm. Its more of a passive way to find new music. It plays stuff that I like, but I dont follow through as much as I would on last.fm

My buddies are mostly the live version of last fms suggestions If a band I like is on tour, they tend to tour with artists that I will also enjoy. Most of the time this is hit or miss. RX Bandits are pretty good about bringing along awesome openers though.

I don't know if it counts so much as "distribution" but Myspace has really helped the music scene within the past 5 years. Alot of bands have come out of nowhere because of it. It defenitely gave the underground hardcore scene a huge boost. I supposed that could be directly related to distribution by exposure. Might get you some extra points.

If I hear a song on the radio that I like, I make note of the song and if I want to hear it I listen to it on a YouTube video. If I like it a lot of want to hear it in my car, I buy it off of iTunes. So...the radio is my primary source (aside from friends) of hearing new music.

I usually check iTunes daily to see if any of the bands that I like have released new material, and if so, I usually buy them. It's pretty simple. I like to buy albums in physical form, but I don't mind buying singles on iTunes on a regular basis. The only albums I buy on iTunes are ones that I can't find in stores (and for some reason I bought Foo Fighters Echo's Silence Patience and Grace on iTunes as well)

I download music from Amazon relatively frequently. It definitely does increase the amount of money I spend on impulse buys... not usually because I'm browsing amazon itself, but because I do a lot of reading about music, which makes me curious to hear things that get mentioned, and with so much so easily available...

What I find doesn't work so well is the "Recommended for You" section, or Pandora, or basically any system that tries to predict what I'll like based on what I've previously listened to. When I seriously want to browse for new music, rather than when I'm looking for something specific, I still prefer to go to a physical store & look at real CD's. Not sure why, but I suppose it makes it easier to come across something completely off the wall that piques my curiosity.

(I listen to about 85% classical music, though, and that world works a little differently in general than most other music genres.)

Fixed.

Go over the stuff in the TPB trial landfish, might have stuff you can use (though it's general purpose "digital distribution").

Torrentfreak has a lot of news on it.

<.< I buy it sometimes.

I don't buy or download music much, actually, but I buy off iTunes when I do buy music. And it has encouraged impulse buying more - I think it helps that you can only buy one song at a time - very rarely do I buy full albums. When you're only buying one song you can tell yourself "oh well it's only a dollar."

The only CDs I have ever purchased are local bands. I like to support them. The big guys, screw em, I'll steal it. So I don't use digital distribution. The local guys have it online, but I want to own something physical.

If only you knew how the music industry worked...

I prefer to but albums at shows if I can.

I use the zune pass subscription almost exclusively for all my music discoveries now. Unlimited music + mixview music suggestions =

I don't buy OR download music anymore... i just listen to the radio or find it online to stream somewhere... On the RARE occasion that I do buy music, its only from a band I really really like to support them.