Benji B 1Xtra (Movie Soundtrack Special) (18.07.13) by Benji B on Mixcloud

Hip-Hop Intellectuals Podcast #8 by Iraq Lee on Mixcloud

Hip-Hop Intellectuals Podcast #8 by Iraq Lee on Mixcloud

Far, Far Away

The more divided becomes music industry, the more complicated
becomes the process of listening and searching for the new music.
Demand for a unified solution is already there, but to gain power
a lot of things should happen in future.
Major labels will not let themselves stick to a device that will control
all the music through one service (iPod/iTunes), and they will support
new standards and services (e.g. Beats - curated subscription service)
in order to create competition.

The solution will be presented not as a device, but as a software, using
technology to search and subscribe/buy the music you want from any
source possible: Spotify, iTunes - you name it.

Unified search engine without attachment to a device will
store all your downloads in the cloud and will pay the shop
just using your ID. You will do it in the car, in the office,
or while running with your dog.

Little bit farther

With development of music-production technology, more and more people start to make money from music. Without a contract from a major label, artists have to sell their music by themselves. Royalty from subscription services are too small for a young producer to survive, and that's when indie labels and/or crowdfunding services come to the stage. With only 17% market share, independent album sales are raising, and there are stories of success already: Amanda Palmer (on photo) raised $1,2M on Kickstarter from fans willing her to record a new album.

Nearest future

For the first time since1999 music industry is rising (+0,3% in 2012).
http://www.ifpi.org/content/library/DMR2013.pdf - annual IFPI report.

It happened because of the digital sales and subscription services, which have 20 000 000 users globally, and new players, like Twitter #Music as well as rumoured iRadio and Google subscription service will increase this number even higher next 5 years.

2011 - Cloud number ...

iCloud and Google Music announced.

Now all the music that could be stored on hard drives of a users' personal computer, is stored in a Cloud and users can address to it from anywhere and any time, without attachment to a device.