Music Streaming, Here in the Now Frontier.

These days, the music industry and inundated with new web sites that claim to be the future of streaming media.  I’d like to spend some time during this blog concentrating on how some mega-famous artists aren’t in support of their efforts, as well as spend some time discussing how these same streaming sites claim to be “saving the music industry from itself”.

Some artists like Paul McCartney, are trying to send buyers of their products back to retail outlets to purchase their catalogues of music. A frustrated McCartney has his legal team pull his music from all streaming sites due to very small percentages and payouts, hoping to help brick and mortar outlets stay in business and encourage other artists to do the same. This doesn’t mean that McCartney wants to limit his reach or audience’s ability to listen to his music on demand, but feels that the percentages aren’t always fair to the artist. However, many sites claim to be saving the industry by making the very music people would want to pirate available and a very low cost, in an effort to send compensation back to the artists and expand large portions of their reach through the use of direct deals with record labels and mobile apps.

Regardless of which side of the artist argument the consumer happens to be on, the biggest debate is which company will outshine the other and come out on top as the number one streaming site on the web. The two most well known these days are “Pandora” and “Spotfly”. Both great sites and strive for acceptance on Facebook, Twitter, and all other social media platforms, but still have their pro’s and con’s. Each work from a the Music Genome project, but many people have issues with the advertising aspects of Pandora, just as they have issues with the monthly fee on Spotfly; thus bringing the competition more related to the mobile applications and reported privacy issues.

Looking toward the future of the music industry, marketing has changed just as much as the ability to record what is being marketed. Thought what works best for one person may not work as well for another when it comes to gaining access to their favorite artist or method of discovering new talent, one thing is for sure, it’s all about preference. That being said, if an artist doesn’t evolve with the industry and make their product available through as many chains and outlets as possible, they run the risk of not being able to meet the preferential needs of the very people to which they are trying to market.