I cant see this monthly charge thing working for all of the reasons you all have mentioned.....in fact, I think its over for artists making money via album purchases in any form, at least for most artists, (perhaps Britney and the like will still add to their fortunes)... I think the future lies with alternate means of income, primarily touring.... This , may be a handicap to electronic bands and others more suited to the studio...

As we have pointed out in earlier blogs, many big bands have only a brief moment in the limelight, when they are young...Most bands (arguably) are focused not on saving money for your retirement, but , on the music itself, stardom, girls (or boys, whatever...), and having a good time, when they first start out, (and not necessarily in that order)..So......perhaps the future financial penalties won't affect things that much, in terms of emerging new young artists....

1) you still have the urges driving youth forward to create the music
2) you now have a wide market available online to have the artists get their message out
3) you still make decent money touring in an early career (at least enough that it seems like a lot to a typical teenager or early 20 something
4) you still get the girls, fame, party life

but it will mean you dont get to maintain the lifestyle for long because you dont have the serious money required to sustain it...