Jazz Odyssey

Wired is running an article on microtransactions:

"New car: $1. New helmet: 5 cents. Flashy new warrior’s sword: 50 cents. Bigger baseball bat: three for $2. Magic spell to help defeat that tricky warlord on level five: 10 cents per use. Welcome to the online store of the future — the one embedded in your favorite video game. When Microsoft releases the new version of its video-game console — presumably this year — it plans to include a storefront that will offer "microtransactions." The idea is that everyone wins: Players with disposable income can spend a few cents here and there to enhance their gameplay, and publishers get a way to create a continuing revenue stream."

This is an embryonic commerce system and the business model(s) have yet to manifest themselves but it certainly is interesting to consider the possibilities for music marketing and revenue generation. Will the taverns in these virtual worlds have virtual bands that you can see/hear for a small surcharge? Will the jukeboxes in the virtual Spaceports require a not-so-virtual nickel in the form of a microtransaction? Will we see a software company pony up some very real dollars to a hot band to have them perform a virtual concert in their virtual world, selling virtual tickets to players with an unlimited number of "best seats in the house"?

Of course, then we’ll need to keep an eye out for virtual scalpers selling tickets on ebay….