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Dance On Demand

DANCE ON DEMAND From the late 1990s to mid 2000s, music piracy applications were the dominant force in online music. Today, a far more ethical alternative has swept the web. Social music applications give users on-demand streaming access to practically all of the world's recorded music without any legal risks to the user. In this latest tech explosion, several big players have emerged-some seemingly out of nowhere-and many are wondering how the two dominant social and music platforms, Facebook and Apple, will respond. We explore the social music landscape and the impact it's having on the way we listen to our favorite bands. A LOOK AT THE MODERN SOCIAL MUSIC REVOLUTION THE CU RRENT MAJOR PLAYERS SPOTIFY CAN USERS ADD TO THE LIBRARY? NO PAID VERSION AVAILABLE? YES APP TYPE: Desktop/Mobile NUMBER OF USERS: 10+ million PRICE: $9.99/month PAID FEATURES: HOW IT WORKS Ad-free, access to mobile apps, high-quality sound Users can search Spotify's library and stream songs/artists on demand. PANDORA CAN USERS ADD TO THE LIBRARY? NO PAID VERSION AVAILABLE? YES APP TYPE: Web/Desktop/Mobile NUMBER OF USERS: 40 million PRICE: $36/year PAID FEATURES: HOW IT WORKS Ad-free, high-quality sound, access to desktop Users can pick an artist, song, or genre, and Pandora will generate a random playlist of app, access to skins similar artists. GROOVESHARK CAN USERS ADD TO THE LIBRARY? YES PAID VERSION AVAILABLE? YES APP TYPE: Web/Mobile NUMBER OF USERS: 35 million PRICE: $6 - $9/month PAID FEATURES: Ad-free, access to mobile apps HOW IT WORKS Users can search Grooveshark's library and stream songs/artists on demand. TURNTABLE.FM CAN USERS ADD TO THE LIBRARY? YES PAID VERSION AVAILABLE? NO APP TYPE: Web/Mobile NUMBER OF USERS: 700,000 PRICE: N/A PAID FEATURES: N/A HOW IT WORKS Users join rooms and create playlists together in real time from Turntable's library. LAST.FM CAN USERS ADD TO THE LIBRARY? NO PAID VERSION AVAILABLE? YES as APP TYPE: Desktop//Web NUMBER OF USERS: 40+ million PRICE: $3/month PAID FEATURES: Ad-free, access to mobile HOW IT WORKS app, access to VIP zone, play radio on supported hardware platforms. It collects information about a user's typical listening preferences and uses it to recommend bands they might like. Users can also search artists/songs and stream them for free. SOUNDCLOUD CAN USERS ADD TO THE LIBRARY? YES PAID VERSION AVAILABLE? YES APP TYPE: Web/Mobile NUMBER OF USERS: 10 million PRICE: $38 - $657/year PAID FEATURES: HOW IT WORKS Users easily record their original music and share it with social networks and related music Increased upload/download limits, tracking of downloads, privacy settings apps. JANGO CAN USERS ADD TO THE LIBRARY? NO PAID VERSION AVAILABLE? NO APP TYPE: Web/Mobile NUMBER OF USERS: 8 million PRICE: N/A PAID FEATURES: N/A HOW IT WORKS Users can pick an artist or genre, and Jango will generate a random playlist of similar artists. RDIO CAN USERS ADD TO THE LIBRARY? NO PAID VERSION AVAILABLE? YES APP TYPE: Web/Mobile NUMBER OF USERS: 100,000 PRICE: $4.99 - $17.99/month PAID FEATURES: HOW IT WORKS Unlimited streaming, access to mobile app Users can search Rdio's library and stream songs/artists on demand. Rdio also enables users to store those songs locally for offline listening. MOG CAN USERS ADD TO THE LIBRARY? NO PAID VERSION AVAILABLE? YES APP TYPE: Desktop/Mobile NUMBER OF USERS: 10+ million PRICE: $9.99/month PAID FEATURES: HOW IT WORKS Ad-free, access to mobile apps, high-quality sound Users can search and stream any music within MOG's library and take it on the go with their mobile device. RHAPSODY CAN USERS ADD TO THE LIBRARY? NO PAID VERSION AVAILABLE? YES APP TYPE: Web/Mobile NUMBER OF USERS: 1 million PRICE: $9.99/month PAID FEATURES: HOW IT WORKS Subscription required for use. Unlimited streaming, access to mobile app Users can search and stream any music within Rhapsody's library and take it on the go with their mobile device. HOW FACEBOOK MIGHT DISRUPT facebook Facebook, the 800-pound gorilla of the social world, has recently launched a social music function that stands to challenge the current players. The new "Listen With" button enables users to 1) Listen With Friends listen to music with their friends on Facebook through the existing chat list. Facebook's application could pose a threat to Turntable.fm, which offers a similar experience. But music may be just the beginning for Facebook. Industry speculation suggests that the network may expand the fea- ture into a full media platform that enables friends to: LISTEN TO MUSIC TOGETHER WATCH TV SHOWS TOGETHER WATCH FULL-LENGTH MOVIES TOGETHER Former music executive Ted Coen says that if it works the way it is supposed to, Facebook's system would be "THE NIRVANA OF INTEROPERABILITY." IS APPLE FALLING BEHIND? As the social music world grows in popularity, the need to store music locally is diminishing. This is seen by some as a significant threat to Apple and its iTunes media player, whose only competing product is iCloud. iCloud allows users to store their music collection in the cloud and stream it from anywhere, however it iTunes does not let you access music you have not yet purchased. ITUNES PROS: ITUNES CONS: Market dominance with over 10 billion song Very little experience with social networks or social behavior. downloads since its release. Proprietary synchronization with the hugely successful iPhone. Charges users per song/album download. Ping, a music-based social network with lots of untapped potential. No unlimited streaming options available. Ping ISSUES OF LEGALITY Many wonder how social music services have achieved legality while streaming nearly every artist imaginable to anyone with an Internet connection. Several of the services listed above license music straight from the copyright holders themselves-the record labels. Depending on the specifics of the licensing agreements, these applications pay a portion of all advertising and premium subscription revenue to the labels in exchange for the music their users stream. In turn, the labels pay the artists their respective cuts and bank the remainder. HOW MUCH DO THE ARTISTS G ET PAID? %24 Streaming services can never be sure exactly how much the artists themselves get paid. This amount is specific to each artist, based on their contract with the label. The best streaming services can do is trust, as Rhapsody President Jon Irwin says: "We trust that this royalty revenue is flowing to artists, writers, and the other creative folks responsible for the music we proudly distribute via Rhapsody." 24 SOURCES: INVESTOR.PANDORA.COM | BILLBOARD.COM | PASTEMAGAZINE.COM | BILLBOARD.BIZ | LATIMESBLOGS.LATIMES.COM CD09.S3.STATIC.JANGO.COM ROLLINGSTONE.COM HighTable.com %24

Dance On Demand

shared by hightable on Apr 20
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A look at the modern social music revolution.

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