Why the online music industry is a mess

If disruption means losing money, then online music services know how to spend like rock stars.

Adoption and revenue growth rates at a few top players like Spotify and Pandora are real -- Pandora reported earnings, breaking even -- but what are the costs to play? It's still unclear in many cases if audience growth will translate to profit. Every few years a new service rises up, captures audiences but then has the same cost-centric problems as every one that has come before: negotiating terms with rights holders. Music labels, music publishers, and in some cases, emerging artists who circumvent traditional music property conventions by going it alone -- think self-managed Taylor Swift -- all want or need a stake in streams or downloads, and that can make or break a deal.