Now that we all have new, fancy MacBook Pros and the majority of us own iPhones, I would find it hard to believe if each and every one of us didn’t use YouTube, Spotify, Pandora, or another streaming device daily. This coupled with the ability to easily torrent music or download it for free is being considered when figuring out what the cause for the dip of digital music sales could be. In the article “As Downloads Dip, Executives Cast a Wary Eye on Streaming Services,” Ben Sisario considers different reasons for this decline in digital music sales. Last year at this time, track sales were 1.01 billion and now are down four percent. In total, all digital sales have dropped a full one percent. Clearly CDs are out of date but executives did not expect digital downloads to dip this low so quickly. Are people in America getting smarter? Did we find a way to beat the system and claim our music for free?
Apple’s success in opening the iTunes Store in 2003 was obvious until the success slowly started to decline and in recent months, the sales have dipped. Music and business analysts cannot agree on a specific cause of the dip, but it seems that streaming services are a popular trend in conversation among the different opinions. Traditionally, costumers get music from the iTunes Store on their computer and buy a single track for what is now $1.29. People are beginning to realize that they get more for their money by downloading an app for free or for a few dollars a month and getting unlimited access to songs in return.
However, the confusion lies in if the streaming services are actually helping the digital downloading industry toward positive results. The streaming and subscription services reached $1.03 billion in revenue, 59 percent greater than last year. The questions being asked are: Do Spotify and YouTube encourage people to purchase songs after streaming them? The answer is probably yes because this encourages sales for digital downloads however, it just as easily encourages people to copy and paste the link into a YouTube to MP3 converter and download the song for free. With that, most people are content with Pandora because they are choosing the genre of the radio station they are listening to. This exposes people to new music of their preference of sound. People do not have to search for new music to listen because their choice of station on Pandora and choice of song on Spotify and YouTube replace the need to buy music. Researchers also claim that Android users are using Google’s play store and straying from iTunes and spending less money.
The article explains that it is hard to know if people are abandoning one way of listening to music for another way. It seems that streaming services and the digital download industry are working side by side to provide music for listeners; one just clearly has a better value than the other. However, the market for digital downloads seems to take on bull like characteristics meaning that it is going to prosper. This must mean that streaming services are having a positive effect on the industry.
In my opinion, people should stick to streaming devices. Paying $1.29 for a song on iTunes is absurd when compared with the monthly subscription of $3.99 to Spotify or the free version of Pandora if the person has patience for the occasional 15 seconds of an advertisement. While I believe this might be a bit of a rip off to artists compared to the kind of revenue they would be bringing in if streaming were not an option for listeners, it also allows artists to get discovered and increases publicity. I think overall, streaming is the way to go. It opens a whole realm of opportunity for people to discover music. Pandora comes complete with the album covers, lyrics, and background information about a band. This is revolutionary for music and I believe the music industry must continue down this path because the purchasing of digital downloads is going to further plateau until streaming becomes the main way for people to listen to music.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/21/business/media/as-downloads-dip-music-executives-cast-a-wary-eye-on-streaming-services.html?_r=0
This topic was really interesting and something I’ve actually been wondering about for a while. I use Spotify and an app called Songza rather religiously and, because of them, I’ve bought several songs from iTunes. That being said, I thought that you made a great point when you said that some people would just plug a YouTube link into a converter and get the songs for free. Technology is changing at such a fast pace that industries that have gone digital are suffering because of it. We could even go beyond music and expand it to e-books, movies, and television shows. Now that files can be shared so easily, it seems like it’s going to be difficult to manage the industry. Actually, it kind of seems like there’s been a recurring theme where law—national or international—intersects a lot with art. I really liked this article and your take on it, and I don’t think this is the last we’ll be seeing of industries that seem to be almost dying because of technology.
This is random, but did your use of the word bull come from the business lecture? Anyways, the issue that the article points out are inevitable. As consumers, we look for the cheapest method to gain something we want, even if time is the price for it. In this case, free youtube converters has the best of both worlds since it is costless and quick. What I find interesting is that not only Americans navigate through the loopholes in the system.
The points that you address remind me of a petition a mp3 converting site had declaring that the site had the right to allow its customers to download music for free. The site won the case, and is currently serving millions of people. I believe this issue tests the Constitution.
(I cringed when reading the YouTube to MP3 Converter part, because that’s exactly what I do.)
Anyway, this topic is really confusing, as you said. While these services provide music for free, apps such as Pandora do have a button for each song which takes you to iTunes to buy the song. I have used Pandora in the past as a way to find new songs and artists whose music I then purchase (ok fine, convert from YouTube).
iTunes Radio is a new feature of iOS7 which is basically the same thing as Pandora, so Apple has to think that it helps their revenue in some sense. I personally dislike free apps like this because the song I want never comes on. I want to have a song instantly, not listen to every other song judged to be similar to it and cross my fingers that the one I want comes on. I also enjoy shuffle mode in my iTunes library where I can skip between my songs, and not having to impatiently wait through advertisements.
However, though I don’t like those particular apps, I am guilty of streaming songs onto my iPod like I previously mentioned (is this bad for me to post on a blog?) I mean, I was all for buying music up until the point when iTunes upped the price of a song to $1.29. That isn’t a horrendous amount individually, but it adds up.
So there’s no clear cut projection or answer. I guess we’ll have to wait and see for ourselves the outcome. After reading this I’ll definitely be keeping up with the issue. Maybe the pros and cons will balance each other out in a way?
I found this article really interesting, because let’s face it most of us use streaming sites like youtube and pandora or have a musical device. I agree with you that streaming programs or websites are much more cost efficient and just better in general. People get more variety and get to find different artists and genres of music. The goal of these streaming websites may be to encourage people to actually buy the songs, but in reality only a small number of people do that. When I like a song, I just continue to listen to it on youtube until I get bored of it. I think it would cost a fortune if people were to buy a sound track for $1.29. A few songs would be alright, but if someone wanted a thousands of songs it would be absurd to buy them all. Especially since the economy is worsening and everything seems so expensive, I have to say that streaming websites which offer listening to music for free are great.
I completely agree with you when you say that streaming is the better venue for music. It is obvious that the age of CD’s and “discmans” is completely over, and downloadable media took over and allowed for a brief transition for the inevitable rise of streaming. What I think is most advantageous about streaming is exactly what you said: it allows people to find new types of music. Beyond this, on the side of the artists, new and upcoming singers and songwriters can actually have a chance in the music industry. Streaming is becoming even more critical as the music industry is becoming more and more flooded with artists. For every genre there are thousands of different people all competing to make it big. If we were still buying CD’s we would still be listening to the few big names and the occasional radio station. Downloads simply allowed us to more easily purchase our CD’s without a physical trip to the store. Streaming has become truly revolutionary as it pushes far beyond what music could accomplish in the past and allows more and more people to discover more artists and has become a positive for the producer and consumer.
I think the connection between allowing a song to be streamed and increasing the digital purchases of the song are weak at best. If you are paying for a spotify premium, there is no reason whatsoever why you would purchase the song from itunes. You can have it on your phone, your ipod, your computer, literally any device with a connection to the internet. So why buy songs for $1.29? You wouldn’t. I was surprised though at the 1 billion in purchases that were made last year. I also don’t understand why people chose pandora over spottily, spotify literally does everything pandora does and more…
I agree with Nicholas concerning the connection between the streaming and digital purchases of songs. There is no reason to purchase songs from iTunes for $1.29 a piece. That is a ridiculous price per song in our days. It is so much easier and less expensive to subscribe to Pandora or Spotify for around $3.99 a month. I am surprised anyone still buys songs from iTunes. I don’t see any point why someone would buy songs from iTunes over subscribing to Pandora or Spotify.
“Are people in America getting smarter? Did we find a way to beat the system and claim our music for free?”
I have a problem with this statement. First of all, people aren’t getting smarter by downloading music for free – people get music for free because they have found these programs, and the only reason they have is simply because of these programs’ availability. Of course people want to get stuff for free. But perhaps it would be smarter to support the artist you like by purchasing their music – illegally downloading music gives them exposure, but can hurt their wallets (and I’m thinking smaller artists here rather than superstars). Also, its not that we are beating the system – the system is changing, and people are using it.
“our music”
Is it really ours? Is art that is put into the world immediately everybody’s? Can people even claim art? I’m not disagreeing, but wondering aloud – do we have ownership over artwork that we love?