that movie?)
Speaking of Sean Parker, guess who helped launch Spotify? The digital streaming Netflix-style subscription service has taken a big piece of the pie away from record stores and Apple, creating an easier, cheaper way to get quality music without the hassle or jail time. Pandora rocks that market with over half the users – 60 million in 2012, with Spotify taking 20 million. However Spotify’s stake is growing due to its dynamic social nature: users can login, connect, and share music with other Facebook friends with the touch of their fingers. Both platforms – Pandora and Spot – offer a premium package: Pandora One removes those annoying ads every three songs and always right before you are going to lean in for the kiss; and Spotify does the same, adding the downloading feature to your mobile device so you don’t always have to stream it and thus pay ten or more dollars extra every month for your overages on your roaming data usage.
Let’s not forget that Apple has just bought Beats, which is more than just Dr. Dre’s [insert the modern word for cool in Compton] headphones company – it’s a streaming service also. I guess we are ignoring the massive failure of iTunes radio (snuck in there with that iTunes 3.4.1.e.w.2.6.* update). Let’s see what a Jobs-less Apple can do with some Beats. I picture the business equivalent of a nerd dancing; but hey, let’s see what they can do (Napoleon Dynamite anyone?).
Satellite radio (music from the moon) is having a hay-day piggy-backing the auto retail market. Sirius XM alone pays its car salesmen $200 million annually in an effort to offer “free” subscriptions to new car buyers along with discounted continued membership after three months or what have you. They are getting a return on investment, but it won’t last. According to TelematicsNews.com, in 2008, Sirius boasted 8.91 million subscribers; a figure that will half itself by 2017. Why? It’s cumbersome and Spotify and the like are better, cheaper, easier, and have more of what “I want!” Auto manufacturers are bypassing the bribes for truer luxury as well, adding online radio and, of course, Bluetooth options as standard in many models and looking to create moving Wi-Fi spots in their cars. (Can I get an “Amen?”)
Let’s not forget, at the end of the day, there is always YouTube. According to CNET.com, though 48% of the nation still listens to the radio, most teens (64%) rely on YouTube – the hybrid between piracy and paid. While services such as Vevo pay the artists in royalties, you can bet your life Suzy Q who just made a pretty slideshow with flowers to the music of the late John Lennon did not (I know, I should have said CCR, it would have been perfect). Let’s be honest, who hasn’t reverted to YT in a moment of musical frustration? I see no hands out there. Okay, I’m writing this alone at home.
However, there is hope for the industry. According to Nielsen, half the population is buying music on their smartphones. Because Googling for the right version on YouTube takes forever. Because waiting for the ad to reach the “You can skip this ad in 3, 2, 1 second(s)” during intimate moments literally kills the moment. Because it’s just not cool. Because my data bill this month is $10 over, which is $10 more than I wanted to spend. Because getting pulled over while typing “Who Shot the Sherriff?” on my smartphone isn’t that smart.
A former Internet Marketing Manager, Joe Cunningham is a dad, a screenwriter, playwright and all-around adventurer. He blogs for Kinani Blue, charms Google at Terakeet and enjoys running through the city. You can follow him on Twitter at @IndianaJoe77 or he can be reached at [email protected].
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The human desire for music only increases and broadens from generation to generation as new genres are formed and old ones are re-discovered or newly revered. We want it cheaper, better, more, faster, on our every device, and wherever we go. We want it to play whatever we want but, at the same time, we want music to surprise us and put us in the mood we don’t even know we want to be in. Sound crazy?
Well, the music and tech industries have risen to meet those “needs.” Now, no matter where you go or what you want, or what you don’t know you want – music is there to give you that Hall and Oates “I’m Joseph Gordon Levitt and everyone randomly dances in perfect choreography to my mood” feeling. (Who doesn’t love Listen to the Music

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What would life be like without music?