Music

Why Do We Need to Own Music?

By Mark Evans in Music 2 Comments Tags: , , , ,

Lily Allen has attracted a lot of attention recently for leading a public charge against people (aka pirates) who download music. Not surprisingly, her efforts have attracted a lot of attention, including this excellent video by Dan Bull (see below).

Amid all the attention being paid to file-sharing, pirates and the RIAA, one of the biggest questions is why people need to “own” music. Why is that we need to buy CDs and/or download music (legally and illegally)? Is it the hunters and collectors part of our DNA that makes us want to possess music rather than just listen to it?

If the Internet has done anything for music, it has made it easier and quicker to listen to pretty much anything we want at any time. It’s a musical buffet that stretches for miles and miles so you can eat as music as you want for as long as you want.

Yet the need to “own” music still prevails. Maybe it has something to do with having control over our music, or maybe it’s simply a matter of having to possess music so our iPods and iPhones have a purpose when we’re not connected to the Web.

What do you think? Does owning music still make sense?


Is P2P Dying?

By Mark Evans in Music 5 Comments Tags: , , ,

Do you download as much free music these days using P2P services?

Anecdotally, the number of people building their digital music collections using P2P appears to be shrinking – a development highlighted in a recent New York Times article.

It is a stark contrast to not that long ago when downloading free music was something done by many people, who never thought about the legal consequences. Even when the RIAA went on the warpath by suing people, it had little impact on how people behaved.

This trend, however, seems to be changing, and it strikes me as having a lot to do with availability. Rather than having to “own” a song or CD, a growing number of people are content to simply access what they want when they want using services such as Pandora, Songza, MySpace and Spotify.

Many of these services are free, allowing people to get a musical fix without having to dig in their pockets. Of course, if they like what they hear, there are lots of options – iTunes, etc. – to quickly make a digital purchase.

Stepping back from the fray, the apparent decline of music acquisition using P2P is stunning given it was so prolific anot that long ago. This isn’t to suggest the music industry will thrive again because the business models have clearly changed, and will continue to evolve.

That said, it is impressive to see how Spotify, a Swedish music streaming start-up that has taken Europe by storm, has become one of the hottest startups.

Spotify co-founder Daniel Ek hit the hammer on the nail when he told the NYT that:

“Piracy is essentially the consumer’s wish to have everything on demand. It’s not like people want to necessarily have it for free,” adding that piracy has thrived because due to the lack of services “that allowed people to discover new music and easily share music with friends.”

Are you still downloading music using P2P? If so, why?


Minor Miracle: I’m Buying Music Again

By Mark Evans in Apple/iPod, Music 3 Comments

Rich Terfry
It has been years since I bought a music CD. And although iTunes has made it a breeze to purchase music online, I can’t really claim I’ve jumped on the digital bandwagon…until now.

What has turned me into a music consumer again is Rich Terfry (aka Buck 65), who hosts the afternoon drive show on CBC Radio 2. As a musician with a deep and wonderful knowledge of artists and a variety of musical genre, Terfry puts on a show with excellent music, featuring artists that otherwise wouldn’t be exposed on the national stage.

It may be that Terfry’s musical taste match my own or that he’s simply highlighting great music but I’ve found myself over the past few weeks listening to a song, and then flipping over to iTunes to buy it. I haven’t purchased a huge amount of music but the fact I’m buying music again is significant given I’ve been a non-consumer recently.

The question is why Terfry’s show has inspired the consumer in me when there are services around like Pandora and Jango. I guess it comes down to being able to trust/believe the recommendations you’re given.

Given Terfry’s background, I have faith in his selections whereas Jango is using some kind of algorithm to generate playlists. It’s not that Jango’s technology isn’t great but there’s something to be said for personal recommendations.

More: Speaking of iTunes, the New York Times reports that Apple will remove anti-copying restrictions on all songs within iTunes. That’s a huge move given iTunes has been a walled garden with hard-core DRM technology. Apple also said it will let music labels set a range of prices for songs, which means the 99 cents/song standard will disappear.

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RIAA Decides to Play Nice…NOT!

By Mark Evans in Music No Comments

After years of waging a legal jihad against their customers, the music industry has decided that nasty lawsuits isn’t a good tactic anymore. You have to wonder why the change of heart given the music industry seemed to take great pleasure is suing the pants off people as opposed to working on creating a kick-ass business model.

But before you think the Recording Industry Association of America has surrendered, think again. Rather than battling against evil music downloaders by itself, the RIAA wants to bring ISPs into the fray by working on agreements that will notify customers when they’re sharing music that shouldn’t be shared.

According to the Wall St. Journal, the ISP will “either forward the note to customers, or alert customers that they appear to be uploading music illegally, and ask them to stop. If the customers continue the file-sharing, they will get one or two more emails, perhaps accompanied by slower service from the provider. Finally, the ISP may cut off their access altogether.”

To be honest, it’s a brilliant approach.

After all, why do all the dirty work by yourself when you can build an army to fight the good fight. By taking this approach, the RIAA moves away from being the Evil Empire, while getting some help to achieve the same end goal.

Of course, it also means that ISPs will be taking a bigger role in monitoring/policing every piece of digital traffic that flows over your connection. If you thought ISPs are overbearing now, you ain’t seen nothing yet.

More: Mike Masnick, who knows this issue as well as anyone, described the RIAA’s decision as a “small step” in its effort to create more constructive business models. Meanwhile, Life on a Wicked Stage calls out the RIAA for trying something new because the lawsuits didn’t work very well.

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Talking with David Usher

By Mark Evans in Music 4 Comments

David Usher
It’s not every day that you get to sit down and talk to a rock star when you write about technology and work for an online travel planning site.

So, I’m really excited about doing a “fireside chat” with David Usher in Montreal this Wednesday at an Infopresse conference. David and I are going to talk about how he’s using technology and the Web to create, market, distribute and sell his music.

I met David during the mesh conference last year where he provided excellent insight from an artist’s perspective about the music industry and the Web. What was really terrific was that David spent a lot of time at mesh, attending sessions, talking with people, and getting even more ideas on how he can use the Web in new and different ways.

You can check out David’s Web site, Facebook and MySpace pages and Twitter profile. And you can listen to and buy his music, including his new CD, Wake Up and Say Goodbye.

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The Lost Video: David Usher on Social Media

By Mark Evans in Music 1 Comment

In preparing to transfer data to a new MacBook, I’ve been spending some time cleaning up the old MacBook. In going through things, I found an interview that I did with Canadian musician David Usher at the mesh conference a few months ago. (Apologies for some minor production issues such as the less-than-professional start!)

Usher is fairly unique within the music business because he’s enthusiastically embraced social media, everything from blogging and Twitter to MySpace and Facebook. If anyone could be dubbed Musician 2.0, it’s Usher. You can purchase his music here.

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