The Music Revolution Part I

Note: This blog post was originally posted on Knoxsocial's blog on November 30, 2011.

The digital music revolution is at hand. This is exciting because ultimately, music makes the world go round…

Do you remember a time when listening to one artist’s album used to cost $10-$15 bucks? Remember another time when downloading and sharing peer-to-peer files landed you a big fat lawsuit? Well, fear no more, music-lover, because you now have a gazillion songs at your finger tips. And guess what? Most of it is FREE or for a small fee if anything.

Some could argue that this new revolution is great for artists, especially lesser-known ones, in that it’s putting more control (and ears) into the hands of the artist and less in the hands of  major record labels. Of course, not everyone is feeling all tingly or butterflies for it.  For instance, according to a recent Mashable article, Adele and Coldyplay have decided NOT to release their new albums on Spotify for undisclosed reasons which are more than likely financial ones. Mashable also said that according to estimates published in Rolling Stone, “artists only make about three-tenths of a cent every time one of their songs is streamed, and 20 cents for every song sold on iTunes.” This just proves there’s an obvious divide on whether these new platforms are beneficial or not.

So we’ve recognized that the music industry is changing. But exactly how is it changing? The biggest change is in its shareability. No longer is listening to music a private activity you do alone at your desk, but is now a series of connections and experiences you share with others – strangers or not. Of course, we all like to brag about our impeccable musical taste. And what better way than to broadcast it to all of your friends on Facebook? You know that once they see what you’re listening to they are going to think you are 10x cooler, right? And then you take a look at what they’re listening to and think ‘like, seriously, are they really listening to ABBA?!?’

OK, the last couple of statements may have been a bit of a stretch. Regardless, it’s clear that music is integrating into our life experiences, online and offline, especially with the rise in portable devices. And because of this ease in accessibility, the music industry needs to make a decision and make it quickly – either jump on the digital train and figure out a way to make it profitable or get left behind.

So what’s the best music site out there? Well, as they say, “Different strokes for different folks.”  But seriously, that’s for the next blog post – The Music Revolution Part II. Thanks for reading and happy listening!

Also, if you have some time to spare, I HIGHLY recommend you watch this interview with Sean Parker during the Web 2.0 Conference. He touches on some great points on the music industry and social media in general.

How do you feel about the introduction of music services such as Spotify – do you think these will help or hurt artists in the music industry? What do you think the industry will look like in the next 5-10 years? Share your thoughts below!