The Future of Music

By Esther Michaels

Much has changed in the music industry with the emergence and development of the world wide web. Gone are the days of the compact disc, not to mention vinyl and cassettes. Digital audio, or sound that is recorded or converted and stored in a digitized format, is nothing new, however recent developments within this market are revolutionizing the modes of music reception and point toward the future of music digital audio.

A little history…

Late in the 1990s, the emergence of the MP3 allowed music to be compressed through a predictive synthesis technique, meaning small files and more space for storage. As the popularity of high-quality compressed music rose, and the availability of internet access grew, the masses gained widespread entrance to the world of file-sharing. Beginning with Napster, launched in 1999, and continuing through the use of other file-sharing services, issues of electronic media piracy exposed not only the issues the music and entertainment industries would face but also the revolution of consumer preferences. As MP3 files can be as much as 90% smaller than the original file, people could send and download them with increasing speed and ease, an obvious advantage to the consumer market. One way the market responded to growing trends was to clamp down on security, to develop some protections against piracy and copyright infringement. Apple’s iTunes, using Advanced Audio Coding (AAC) a semi-proprietary format which is copyrighted can be played only by the iTunes music system, was able to restore the power to business and the artists by providing music for legal download. But recent shifts have marked a move to work with, rather than against, the preferences of the ever-demanding consumer. Tom Silverman, founder of Tommy Boy Records, explains that 

"there's a lot of fear because the old models aren't working the way they did before and the big businesses were based on those models… those models were based on control, and control was based on limiting supply. You can't limit supply in the digital world — it's an unlimited thing." 

These changes are redefining the music industry as a whole, through not only the distribution of music, but also through its creation and marketing.


Over the last few years, the Internet-based consumers have developed two strong habits for information goods—one is to download them from the Internet and the second is to get them free. Total industry sales were about $10 billion in 2008, down from $14 billion in 2000, according to the Recording Industry Association of America. In contrast, worldwide online music revenue from end-user spending is on pace to total $6.3 billion in 2011, up from $5.9 billion in 2010, according to Gartner, Inc. Online music revenue is forecast to reach $6.8 billion in 2012, and grow to $7.7 billion in 2015. Online music sites are being used by a growing number of listeners as a substitute for purchasing, and even downloading, music. The different varieties of sites are detailed below.


P2P or peer-to-peer includes models having a node-like, decentralized structure. The basic architectural aspects of P2P systems include a high degree of decentralization, self-organization and multiple administrative domains. P2P networks, such as Napster, BitTorrent, and Limewire facilitate data copying by enabling those connected to the network to download files from others on the network, hence peer-to-peer. The second group, Central downloads, are centralized. Users are required to seek out and exchange information with a specific contact—usually an Internet download shop—in order to download a specific piece of digital music.


Streaming may involve saving a file to a peripheral device however, unlike downloading, streaming does not have the permanent storage of the transferred data as its central purpose. Interactive streaming, as the name suggests, includes systems which allow the user to control the listening experience. Interactive streaming essentially means listening to whatever you want whenever you want; the only limiting factor being the necessity of maintaining an active Internet connection. Models such as Grooveshark, Spotify, and Soundcloud are examples and come to define the largest sector of online music distribution development. A few are detailed below.

Grooveshark

First written in ActionScript, later redesigned to use HTML5, Grooveshark is an rich internet application (RIA) that allows users to search for, stream, and upload music internationally, which can be played immediately or added to a playlist. All its content on the service is user-sourced and its catalog is the most extensive of any online music streaming service with users streaming over 1 billion sound files per month, over 15 million songs and 35 million users. Similarly to radio websites like Pandora, users can listen to pre-made music stations, or they can populate their own station by music that they add to their list of Current Songs. By using the Radio Station feature, users can choose music from which the site will stream similar songs. Grooveshark features a “Community” section, where users can view the activity of friends by “following” them through clicking a “heart” icon. Social media is featured heavily on Grooveshark, and users can easily connect their accounts for fast music sharing between sites, or quickly find friends on Grooveshark by connecting other social media accounts. While the site is free, there are paid subscription options that give users increased features, eliminate banner ads and allow for playability on mobile devices. As of January 2012, Grooveshark was being sued by EMI Music Publishing, Sony Music Entertainment, Warner Music Group and Universal Music.

Pandora Radio

Pandora Radio is a music recommendation service available only in the United States. Through streaming, the service plays similar selections to suggestions entered by the user, which are then rated by the user so as to adapt to the taste of the listener. Its recommendation engine is backed by the Music Genome Project and is exhaustive, however the site is restrictive in nature.without a paid account, you’ll be interrupted every so often with audio ads. Also, you’re limited on how many song skips you get per hour, which means you need to be content with whatever comes up to be satisfied using Pandora. Play of a single artist is limited. Pandora provides similar music, not a play-on-demand service. While listening, users are offered the ability to buy the songs or albums at various online retailers. Pandora has expanded into mobile applications, Facebook profile linking, and sidebar gadgets for streaming sans internet window.

Spotify

Spotify is a music streaming service offering streaming of selected music from a range of major and independent record labels, including Sony, EMI, Warner Music Group, and Universal. Launched in October 2008 by Swedish startup Spotify AB, the service had approximately ten million users as of 15 September 2010, about 2.5 million of whom were paying members. Music can be browsed by artist, album, record label, genre or playlist as well as by direct searches. On desktop clients, a link allows the listener to purchase selected material via partner retailers. As of July 2011, the catalog provides access to approximately 15 million songs. Spotify also has a radio feature similar to that of Grooveshark. Spotify allows registered users to integrate their account with existing Facebook and Twitter accounts. Facebook integration is compulsory for new accounts. Once a user integrates their Spotify account with other social media profiles, they are able to access their friends' favorite music and or playlists. Additionally, Facebook compatibility allows Spotify users to share music with Facebook friends through the use of the service's inbox.

SoundCloud

SoundCloud is an online audio distribution platform which allows collaboration, promotion and distribution of audio recordings. It had the intention of allowing musicians to share recordings with each other, but later transformed into a full publishing tool which also allowed musicians to distribute their songs. It takes just a click to share sounds to Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook and Foursquare. SoundCloud can be accessed anywhere using the official iPhone and Android apps, as well as hundreds of creation and sharing apps built on the SoundCloud platform.

A new development, Tomahawk Music Player allows users to organize all of their music on one desktop Interface, whether the source is SoundCloud, Spotify, MP3s, iTunes, YouTube, Last.fm, etc. You can even access any friend’s music library if they use the player. Tomahawk takes the metadata of a song, which is its title and artist, and finds a match for the song wherever available; this may be the listener’s hard drive, another machine, the web, or the listener’s subscription service. By using the XSPF playlist standard, the Tomahawk Player is able to import playlists metadata. This allows you to share and play playlists coming from friends or from somewhere on the web.