More Young People Opting for Streaming Music Every Day
When people started floating the idea of streaming music, the reaction was pretty negative.
“What? This is like renting music! No way! I want to own and possess all my music forever!”
I confess. I was among that number. Now, though, I’ve mellowed somewhat. I’ll always buy CDs, vinyl and MP3s, but I completely understand the freedom and convenience using services like Slacker and Rdio brings. I’m not sure I could go back to a non-streaming world, especially when it comes to sampling new and interesting music.
Younger listeners are increasingly on board with streaming. This is from CNN:
Young listeners…represent a looming sea change for the music industry, which has been in upheaval since the Napster era of the late 1990s. Five years ago, music consumers had to choose between buying a CD or downloading the album. Nowadays, thanks to the rise of music-streaming services like Pandora and Spotify, that choice is becoming whether to download music or just stream it online.
Interviews with college-age music fans suggest that more and more are choosing to stream music instead of downloading it. After all, why pay for music when you can summon almost any song you want, at any time, for free?
And the growth of music apps, online radio channels, and music-streaming platforms raise an even larger question: Do we really need to ‘own’ music anymore?
Read this and then think about it. This is the way things are heading.
I am a new subscribe to Rdio and I love it!
However, I do think there is one part of the puzzle that people seem to be missing.
The way I see it, I am not paying for the music, I am paying for the convenience of access to music where ever I go.
When I first signed up for rdio I just had the desktop version ($5/month), but this weekend I was just leaving the house and I had an urge to listen to REM. I do have lots of REM, but its on my backup harddrive. So I would have to get out my computer, hook it up to the hard drive and, then put it on my phone. Instead, I upgraded my account to have mobile assess ($10/month), downloaded the app, and happily left the house listening to REM.