Ownership vs Easy Access: the raging debate of 2010?
Thursday, December 31st, 2009On the eve of a new year and a new decade, it seems that the big debate in 2010 will be music in the cloud vs ownership.
Music ownership and consumption over the years has changed dramatically (as we all know) but by the surge in numbers of streaming services and subscription services to access music “in the cloud” wherever you are, it is looking to change again. Let’s have a quick look at the evolution.
Sheet Music (and a Piano) was the only way of having popular music in the home in the early days, so it could be replicated by all those who could play in the home. Phonograph Cylinders were the norm up until the 1920s and Vinyl Records dominated from then on until the 1980s, when Cassette Tapes had a short reign until Compact Discs made mass consumption history, out-selling every medium that came before it. The MP3 caught major labels with their pants down and before they knew it, a tech company owned the largest music store on the planet.
So, that brings us up to speed with formats, but let’s have a look at how music is/was consumed. Basically, the point of this blog is to take a quick look at “ease-of-access” methods of music consumption - streaming and music in the cloud and whether the general populace are ready for a complete shift in the way they think about how they pay for/grab/”own” music.
For all of the formats prior to digital (and even digital to an extent) the focus was on ownership. A consumer (up until online shopping took hold) had to go out of the house and hunt down a copy of the album/single/EP they wanted to take it home. That copy was THEIRS and no-one elses to be played ad nauseum.
Whether this behaviour was a result of the way that people were forced to consume music up until then or whether it was an ingrained quirk of personality, (i.e. people like to collect and own that music for whatever reason - bragging rights, obsession, eliteism) I am not sure. I suspect it was a mixture of both. I believe that there are a few interesting angles that come into the equation once digital music is considered. (Not counting illegal P2P file-sharing and illegal downloads - that’s a whole other debate).
The move away from consuming whole albums towards buying singles/EPs but from more artists came in with purchasing digital music. My personal preference is still to buy whole albums digitally and in that sense, I am probably becoming outside the norm. I probably still have that “elite” thinking whereby if someone I know only owns or knows the singles of any particular artist, I don’t really consider them a “true fan.” But that is just my view.
I have been doing some DJ gigs lately at parties etc. At these parties, I have been taking a large collection of my music on an external hard drive for play on that evening. If I get requests that I do not have, I purchase them on iTunes via my iPhone and play them once I have loaded them onto the computer. So, in that sense, I am KIND of accessing music in the cloud, but I get to own it afterwards.
The interesting point to this is… these DJ gigs were in a regional area, where I was downloading these songs in areas not even able to access 3G networks. They were taking up to 15 minutes to be ready to play - therefore streaming is certainly not viable for someone in these areas.
The internet and mobile networks in Australia (even in areas in metropolitan areas) certainly are still not able to handle high-demand streaming (well) or accessing large libraries of music on the fly yet - so shouldn’t that be the real question? If this is the focus of new consumption of music - the ability to easily stream music or access music they own anywhere via handheld devices - then shouldn’t the focus of the music industry be on Government bodies and ISPs to make this a reality? Even once this is possible, will it ever be fully embraced by the people who want to “own” even their digital music, knowing that they have the MP3’s (albeit 1’s and 0’s) on their computer? Does this not make most things we know right now…. irrelevant? Music Stores (physical product that is) and AM/FM Radio Stations, anyone?
I know that I will probably always enjoy owning music, but I am happy to give music in the cloud a shot, if it is easily accessible and doesn’t buffer every 10 seconds like a youtube clip on a bad broadband connection, ruining the experience altogether.
Your thoughts, questions, pros/cons etc? Happy New Year Everybody! See you all in a new decade of amazing music and new developments!
The next thing to remember is to start small. Don’t expect to be given a Friday or Saturday night gig first up. Initially asking to fill a Monday or Tuesday night position when you’re starting out will give you a chance to demonstrate your value to the venue owner and establish a mutually beneficial relationship. Don’t aim for huge crowds to begin with; playing in front of a smaller group is great practice and can give you a chance to flatten out any bumps that may arise.
