Is Radio Caught in a Streaming Music Service Pinch?
As streaming music services gain traction with the public–and as people get used to getting whatever music they want, when they want it, wherever they are on whatever device they choose–what does this mean for conventional over-the-air radio? Music Industry Blog takes a look.
2014 will be another year of growth and of controversy for streaming, with much of the debate set to focus on how streaming may, or may not, cannibalize download sales. Theevidence from Sweden and from the US so far suggests that streaming revenues may indeed grow at the direct expense of downloads. But while we may be some way off from a definitive judgment on that issue, there is one cannibalization threat that is looking increasingly incontrovertible, yet has got far less attention: the cannibalization of radio. In fact radio faces a two-pronged attack on its two heartlands, the home and the car.There are many forms of streaming service and each sub-segment is eager to declare its uniqueness. Spotify and Pandora practically fall over themselves to explain how different they are. And indeed, in many ways they are, but what they have in common is that they are both direct competitors for radio listening time. While they do not compete for all radio listening, nor for all radio listeners, they compete for much of the listening of some of the most valuable listeners. Indeed streaming is looking more like radio with every passing day. The intensifying focus on curation as a means of making sense of 30 million songs is leading to on-demand services delivering a richer suite of lean-back, programmed and semi-programmed experiences. In doing so the competitive threat to radio intensifies. Whereas radio broadcasters can rightly claim that radio delivers a low effort, lean back listening experience, streaming services now wear those clothes too and they are not going to relinquish them.
