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The Evolution of Music Playback, Delivery
Bon Jovi's criticisms are partly warranted. Prior to the introduction of the iTunes Store, music sales were already slumping, partly due to pirated music files.
But Bon Jovi failed to mention two things:
- Many believed the music industry didn’t provide products worth buying
- iTunes has become the most popular music store in the world, providing the music industry with a new way to sell its products
The most logical explanation: consumers listen to music differently now than before iTunes was around. Consumers can stream music with Pandora and Rhapsody, listen to satellite radio and, if quality is important, can download digital files from HD Tracks, iTrax and Linn Records. These options don’t even touch upon Blu-ray music video discs, niche formats such DVD-Audio and SACD and traditional radio, LPs and CDs.
Related: Q&A: Richie Sambora, Bon Jovi Guitarist
Bon Jovi might be angry with Jobs for another reason. The Guardian reports Universal Music Group is launching iPad apps for Nirvana, Rush and the Rolling Stones, with each app containing videos, interviews and song excerpts. For example, the Nirvana app ($5.99) is a 387.6MB download with "interviews with the band's surviving members and associates, live footage and even the story of the Nevermind album cover."
These music apps could further damage the emotional attachment of holding an LP and bonding with the album's artwork and liner notes, and the labor of love of spinning a record.
To the Cloud
ABI Research suggests the next iteration of music playback could be backboned by cloud-based streaming services. ABI forecasts that in five years, cloud-based streaming will be a more important part of the music delivery chain.
“The number of subscribers to mobile music streaming services is expected to approach 5.9 million by the end of this year,” says Aapo Markkanen, industry analyst, ABI Research. “ABI Research believes that number will exceed 161 million subscribers in 2016, meaning a compound annual growth rate of nearly 95 percent.”
ABI says consumers, service providers and the music industry could all prosper from the continued evolution of music delivery model.
“Record labels, producers and other middlemen whose businesses have been shaken by content piracy also stand to gain from streaming services as they have an opportunity to monetize a lot of consumption that would otherwise take place outside their revenue base,” says ABI in a press release for the data. “For musical artists, there are both positives and negatives; it will be more difficult to make a living by selling recorded music, but the barriers to wide product distribution are falling fast."
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6 Comments (displayed in order by date/time)
Bon Jovi aside, it is commercialism that started this decline.
Mr. Jobs didn’t kill the music industry, they (music industry) figured out long ago that singles drove greater mass revenue (remember the 45?). But commercialism crushed
creativity, the necessary ingredient for long term progress. Billy Joel said it best-
“I am the entertainer, the idol of my age I make all kinds of money when I go on the stage You see me in the papers, I’ve been in the magazines But if I go cold, I won’t get sold I get put in the back in the discount rack Like another can of beans” So, the music industry has been granted a reprieve from it’s own self doing- temporary as it is.
I think the bigger issues that have hurt the music industry are the fact there’s no creativity left through mainstream channels. Music fans have to go to the Internet; sites like Youtube, Facebook and Myspace to find new artists.
Free FM radio is a dead format that use to support new music. Today if you don’t make mindless pop music like Britney and Lady GaGa you get no airplay.
Country music is the worst offender. Have a songwriter pen your song, get a pretty girl to sing and hire some studio musicians to perform and you’ve got another group with a hit record. Is Faith Hill talented?
Even if you do find a good song, the record is also more than likely to stink. That’s another reason why people buy singles on iTunes. Make records that are worth buying.
Free FM radio was a public service, a requirement of copyright (yep- there is is again) they had an obligation to the public. They also needed revenue which always seems to come from advertisisng. So, your point is well taken, but the same issue will result there too- when they go commercial, creativity will be put on the rack like a can of beans. The Big issue is that greed spells doom to long term prosperity.
People don’t respect music like they did back in Bon Jovi’s day, hell people don’t respect pretty much anything anymore thats why were saturated with crap products to such a degree that we don’t feel like putting down our hard earned cash for it especially considering how expensive the world gotten. This just feeds into more disrespect…chicken or the egg?
Hey Jon,
I will tell you the same thing my economics teacher told me when I told him that engineers don’t make as much as they used to.
Find another career that makes money. C’mon Jon you are creative. But my guess is that you cannot sell very many songs at a buck each without the FM airplay you used to get. Now that people are exposed to much more variety, the industry is diluted, but the choices for the consumers are greater. The competition got tougher and you must sell yor music on its merits rather than the relationships between your label and the FM DJs.
Also, now if you want to sell 10 songs, you have to make 10 good songs - not 3 good songs and filler.
It’s funny to say Steve Jobs killed music as far as the mighty dollar. I f anything he may have saved it. Prior to Itunes we had Napster, Shareaza, and countless others thet were giving the music away free with out recourse. Itunes created a new model for the digital/web age that Artist can still capitolize on music, movies, and literature. Although the “album” sale went down because of individual track sales there is a gain to it all that Mr. Slippery When Wet is missing. The massive outreach to potential listeners with Itunes, Rhapsody, Pandora, etc. is immense. Exposing potential new listeners on level never seen before not only has the ability to pack live venues but increase sales in a different way. Instead of 100 people buying an album with 10 songs, 100,000 people will buy 1 song from that album. This model actually increases revenue. The music market was already on a steady crash. Steve Jobs may be the man who saved music, and Bon Jovi’s bank account.