Interesting Article - The Music Streaming Industry is dying

Here's an interesting article about the impeding death of services like Spotify and Pandora:
http://readwrite.com/2013/12/06/streaming-music-competition-pandora-rdio-spotify#awesm=~opB46NsypA5NRX

I only very rarely use a streaming service, and when I do it's Spotify.

Your thoughts?

Not surprising, and not bothered too much by it other than wanting to wring the necks of corporate greed, but that's been going on forever. I only use Spotify to check out new bands and even then it's a once-a-weekend thing (of course I'm also using it to currently stream Christmas standards). I can, of course, do the same thing on YouTube.

corplhicks wrote:

Not surprising, and not bothered too much by it other than wanting to wring the necks of corporate greed, but that's been going on forever. I only use Spotify to check out new bands and even then it's a once-a-weekend thing (of course I'm also using it to currently stream Christmas standards). I can, of course, do the same thing on YouTube.

I generally just use youtube also. I preview the albums and buy if it sounds good.

Spotify has tons of sponsors keeping it afloat, sponsors willing to wait it out to see if it can ever become profitable.  At this point the music industry better hope these streaming services don't die out because they have nothing in the pipeline to replace them.  

Attn: record companies.  Physical media is never coming back as a dominant sales force, you better figure out another way to make money.  And downloads aren't the answer either because the army of people out there with smartphones don't want to have to store audio files on their devices.

Personally, I use streaming services pretty much every day, both at home for listening and at work for providing music for parties/weddings, etc.

Not really a user of any of the streaming programs mentioned in the article, but I did wonder both how they themselves made any money and if the artists ever received any payments for it.

I guess the answer to both is "nope". Interesting article nonetheless.

I have Spotify on my PC at home but only use it occasionally. A lot of times I simply forget it's there. Then I'll be playing songs on YouTube and I'll suddenly go "Y'know I probably should be Spotifying this song so the band gets their 1/100th of a penny for the play," haha

Also: I still say "Spotify" sounds like a disease. "We're sorry, Mr. Hufnagle, but your testicles are completely Spotified. We're going to have to remove your entire nut sack."

I listen to my music from my cloud service. It is pretty nice but if you dont have access it really sucks.

Go ahead and die already.  I'm a dinosaur who has never used any of these "services".

I don't even have time to listen to all my CDs.

Lari wrote:

I don't even have time to listen to all my CDs.

Amen, brother!

Not surprised at all by the article. The music industry as a whole, from the instrument makers, recording industry, to the record companies and beyond have always operated on the concept of "if it isn't broke, don't fix it". The only thing is, it is and has been since the 50's. In comparison, look at the film industry. Laptops are now available with BlueRay with screens better than some TV's. Not an easy feat, and yet progress. Folks replaced their VHS with DVD and are now doing the same with BD and soon Ultra BD. In the world of music, we have the LP which is now available in 180 gram at twice the price. Where is the progress in the music world. Music is no doubt an important part of almost everyone's lives, yet so little progress is made. Why wasn't the CD not been replaced with a better format. Had it not been for Apple, what would the industry have done, prior to the ipod and iTunes, finding that song, you can't remember the artist, was a major feat. People will buy music. Give them something to buy. Streaming services make a lot of sense, yet when it comes to most things music related, they can't seem to make money. We should have a music format/delivery that sounds so good you could swear they are playing a private concert just for you.

journeyman wrote:

Why wasn't the CD not been replaced with a better format.

Better formats exist and were introduced but did not sell. SACD (Super Audio CD) and DVD-A (DVD-Audio) both offered 24-bit, 96khz audio but the industry could never decide which format they wanted to support and the average consumer wants to wait until the format war is won prior to purchasing anything new.

Blu-Ray offers the highest quality audio capabilities but very few artists are using it for that purpose (Tom Petty, Neil Young and Steven Wilson are some of the exceptions). It's a primarily untapped format but it's not portable so that kills off a large portion of the potential market.

And sales of movies regardless of format continues to drop in the same way that physical music formats are decreasing. Netlfix, Hulu, Amazon Prime are increasing at a fast clip and streaming movies will eventually overtake the physical formats.

While there will always be a market for physical formats it is going to become more and more niche and the general public really prizes convenience and portability over quality. It's just the way the world is now.

Led Zeppelin is getting on board with Spotify...

Quote :

Led Zeppelin have made an agreement with streaming service Spotify to make their entire catalogue available to listeners.

The band’s first two albums are available now, with their third and fourth due shortly. By Sunday all their material will be online.

In a brief statement the band said via their official Facebook page: “Led Zeppelin is now on Spotify. Starting today, the catalogue is being released in chronological order over the course of the week.”

The full release schedule is:
Dec 11: Led Zeppelin, Led Zeppelin II
Dec 12: Led Zeppelin III, Led Zeppelin IV
Dec 13: Houses Of The Holy, Physical Graffiti
Dec 14: Presence, In Through The Out Door
Dec 15: The Song Remains The Same, Coda, BBC Sessions, How The West Was Won, Mothership, Celebration Day

And some other interesting comments on Spotify...

Quote :

Controversy continues over the Spotify service, with recent reports suggesting that artists receive less than a hundredth of a penny per play. Responding to the figure of $0.0084 for each stream, the firm pointed out that it had handed over more than $1bn in royalties, with $500m during 2013 alone.

Peter Gabriel recently told Rolling Stone: “I have a problem with Spotify. It’s a great service and I love being able to get anything anytime. But they made a deliberate decision to get in bed with the record companies. They gave them equity positions, which means they can make payments to them without paying the artists. I have a fundamental ethical problem with that.”

But Billy Bragg suggested the problem was with deals between labels and artists, and not with Spotify itself. He told the Telegraph: “If the rates were really so bad, the rights holders – the major record companies – would be complaining. The fact that they’re continuing to sign up means they must be making good money.”

Meanwhile, Spotify have announced their free service will be extended to mobile devices with the costs covered by advertising.

So it sounds like the record companies (rights holders I presume) are still getting paid through streaming services and the artists themselves are still getting the shaft. Typical.

MetalGuy71 wrote:

So it sounds like the record companies (rights holders I presume) are still getting paid through streaming services and the artists themselves are still getting the shaft. Typical.

The way it has always been and always will be. Spotify has to give 63% of everything they make to the record labels, the remaining 37% has to cover their operating costs, marketing, salaries and oh yeah...a small pittance to the artists.

Spotify isn't the problem, if the record labels were really interested in supporting their artists they would agree to a smaller cut in exchange for a higher royalty rate to the artists. Yeah, right, like that would ever happen!   

for streaming albums or demos, I mostly use bandcamp,or reverbnation, or whatever audio player an online news/webzine has embedded for debuting an exclusive album .
The past year, I have bought a lot of releases after listening to them through these means, plus I find it faster than YouTube.

I doubt I have ever used or even seen Spotify's website yet.

I only use these services to preview an album. I think the sound quality sucks ass. As a musician I'm picky about my sound. I buy Cd's because I want good sound.

bass63 wrote:

I buy Cd's because I want good sound.

Because of modern mastering techniques I've stopped buying CDs because I want good sound.   

Yeah, I'm almost at the point where if the band doesn't put it out on vinyl.  My cash stays in Mr. Wallet

I use Spotify for hours every day. I love it. I know they are struggling to make a profit and I'll be very upset if they go away but streaming will not die. Physical music is not going to make a comeback. Certain streaming sites may go out of business, but there's always going to be streaming services available.

Witchfinder wrote:

corplhicks wrote:

Not surprising, and not bothered too much by it other than wanting to wring the necks of corporate greed, but that's been going on forever. I only use Spotify to check out new bands and even then it's a once-a-weekend thing (of course I'm also using it to currently stream Christmas standards). I can, of course, do the same thing on YouTube.

I generally just use youtube also.  I preview the albums and buy if it sounds good.  

+1. Just you tube to check things out and buy it like you and like everybody else should do too if they love music. Maybe then people would only listen to 50 new cd´s a year instead of 500 but they will apreciate music more i think.

I used to play Pandora at work when I had a good wifi connection but eventually got bored with it. Started checking out the "Tune In Radio" app and listen to the radio stations from back home. Or if in a Classic Rock mood I love listening to WCSX out of Detroit. Good mix of Classic Rock on that station. One thing that was funny (living in Florida) was when they gave a weather forecast "high of 28 with snow accumulation of 3 to 6 inches" and someone passing thru the area not knowing it was a stream from Detroit and freaking out about snow.

I think as far as I will go is downloads. I dont care for streaming because when it doesnt work then I cannot listen to music. At least with downloads (and Cds) I will have access even if the stream is down.

I don't stream, but I think I'll be ok thinking for myself despite being a stupid metal fan.   

Orion Crystal Ice wrote:

I don't stream, but I think I'll be ok thinking for myself despite being a stupid metal fan.