The Hypebot Article
Artists don’t like change. Despite the ability to make records on their computers and reach all their fans via e-mail and social media, they want said fans to buy albums, preferably in physical form, in prodigious numbers, they want to get rich!
Want to get rich?
Go into tech.
That’s what will.i.am has done:
Will.i.am debuts line of hardware to supercharge Apple iPhone
You may not like his music, but will.i.am is far from stupid. He’s going where the money is, just like Bono.
But that’s got little to do with Napster and more to do with income inequality. To get the best and the brightest making music we need artists to be able to make the same amount as bankers. Now they’re not even in the same league. Don’t beat up on Spotify, attack the Koch brothers.
As for Spotify…it may be history.
Microsoft is a lumbering giant with a flawed operating system strategy but music is free on Windows 8. Just like on Spotify. While you’re attacking Daniel Ek, the titan of Redmond is doing its best to make inroads into the streaming sphere, hell, that’s where all the money will be, just ask Google, it paid a fortune for YouTube which made nothing and is now generating significant revenues.
And Spotify’s inability to engage the artist community, to get them to testify about the service like they once did for MTV, means that it might get killed by MOG, which is revamping its service in a matter of days. Do you really expect Jimmy Iovine not to bend the arms of his acts to promote MOG? If Jimmy can make a mediocre headphone line the industry leader by utilizing stars and design, do you really think he can’t put a stake in the heart of Spotify?
And then there’s Apple… It’s just about the right time for the Cupertino giant to enter this sphere. To do it elegantly. With search that works.
So while you’re railing at Spotify and its payments, you fail to realize that the streaming train has left the station and it’s only a matter of who is Cornelius Vanderbilt, who eventually triumphs.
Read the above article. Or at least part of it.
Cold, calm analysis beats vitriol every day of the week.
We’re moving to a new paradigm. One in which nobody owns anything and you get paid based on usage.
You stream movies. Cell phone calls are streaming. Both have moved into an all you can eat payment formula. Why do you think music is any different?
