So where are we going?
With the growth of digital distribution platforms such as iTunes and Napster has come one of the biggest format changes in music in a very long time. Right now change is undeniable, My feelings (or more like desperate hopes) are that this change is going to promote giving people the music that they will like, people will be able to easily find all the music that they are naturally attracted to instead of being fed the same thing that various media outlets force upon them.
Most of us (people who are genuinely passionate about music) spend hours scouring blogs and conversing with everyone about the new, unique and interesting sounds in music but lets be honest what average music listener is going to set aside that much time to search for music? Well that’s where Pandora comes in. The idea of Pandora is to be a website where a radio station that is created right in front of you, catered specifically to your taste. I suggest you take a look at the site and try it out for yourself to understand.
So there’s the scenario and the tools so here are my thoughts on this. I believe once wi-fi becomes accessible everywhere you can have every song you dreamed of at your fingertips and if it becomes a subscription service like Satellite radio, the sounds like a great business to me. That’s just my opinion let me know what you think.
Oh yea and heres a different opinion from Russ Solomon.
I think Steve Jobs and crew might be feeling the same way. This idea of “playlist recommendation” could clearly be something worthwhile for the more casual listener. Lest payola rears its ugly head of course.
New Itunes next week:
http://www.macrumors.com/2008/09/03/itunes-8-playlist-recommendations-visualizations/
The possibility of a “subscription service” is definitely something I can dig, and something I think the bigger business models already existing in the industry have to consider for the future.
I’m not sure if you’re familiar with last.fm (http://www.last.fm), but they are very similar to Pandora in the way suggestions are made based on the music you listen to most in iTunes. I’ve been a member for a few years now. I highly recommend looking into it.
Yea last.fm is in fact a great service, panodora just came off as a bit more… effortless I guess you could say.
On the idea of subscription service as a business man I love it but as an artist I hate it. I think in the long run it will end up promoting the same idea radio and MTV did (aka the same old bullshit).
Side note on last.fm I was talking to this girl (from columbia who I met at a party) who fucking judged me on my last.fm not realizing I listen to vinyl/cd/ipod/other music because these days I’m not at home much. Shit hurt my feelings… btw what’s your last.fm address matt?
And here we have exactly what we were talking about as the ‘chance event’ that fuelled the beginning of Tower records…….DEATH!
Couple of things on the subscription model – I don’t think it works when people can get the music for free (i am open to any information on this) In the UK, I heard announcements on the radio …”PLEASE STOP! STOP! Burger King is now stopping the free fries on friday event” people went bananas over free fries forcing the chain to cancel the event by 10am!!!!!!
Its not just the $, its the idea, i think, of not ‘been caught stealing’ its up to us to then use the information, and a litle bit of consumer guilt perhaps to drive live, sales and other add ons………
and, isn’t Pandora about to be sued, shut and slapped with a lawsuit or something wonderfull by the RIAA????
ask me about HOOVER UK on thursday
PLR
MA
I am an idiot when it comes to computers and sneaky little internet gizmos. But because I know how to use Bit Torrent, I probably wont ever pay for a subscription service. I know that is money out of my pocket potentially, but nobody buys albums anymore. They have become more of a collectors item. The purpose now of placing an album on the shelves of stores is just to enable the celebrity factor. My ipod holds more music than I can listen to in a lifetime. And nobody put it on there but me. Sooooooo I already have the ideal playlist at the tip of my fingers. It just wont work.
I recognize the flaws in the proposition of subscription services. I am pretty Internet-savvy and can take it upon myself to find whatever music I want in a variety of different ways. But one thing I am constantly trying to keep in consideration is what we do to satisfy the average consumer? There are some people that know nothing outside of iTunes, and while the iTunes catalog may be expanding, there are still limitations to what you can purchase and how you can use it. (At least DRM is slowly seeing its way out of the picture.)
Subscriptions may not be the answer, but there has to be a way to circumvent the limitations of Apple and iTunes to the common music consumer.
What we have to remember is that the average person makes up the majority of the marketplace, and the average person is content with someone telling them what to buy, listen to, think, etc. They process information from the media and take what they say at face value…..my point: subscription services would work for the average joe who just wants some background noise and doesn’t have a t.v. handy. That average person who doesn’t want to search for something new or under the radar will gladly subscribe to a service for a small fee…look at Rhapsody. They tell their subscribers what’s hot and new…effectively making it not hot and not new. But their o.k. with that because it allows them to listen to something old and makes them feel cool because they know something new and “hip.”
its the filter!
its the filter!