Nathan Parsons' Blog

With the increased ability of both computers and mobile devices to stream music from the internet, questions have started to arise about the future of music and music ownership.  iTunes is currently the dominant online force in music sales, with the 1o-billion song milestone being reached Feb 24, 2010.  But even with iTunes’ increasing sales volumes, the trend seems ot be shifting away from owning music and more towards streaming.  This will inevidably cause a shift in revenue model for an already drastically changed music industry, with expectations that advertising revenue will overtake music purchases in the not-so-distant future. 

We can already see the changes when viewing music videos on YouTube or other sites, where you are forced to watch a 15 second ad before the video will play.  VEVO, one of the largest music websites alongside MTV.com, went live with its Android phone app this month, clearly demonstrating that big business is interested in the ad revenues created by music streaming.  VEVO currently has licensing agreements with three or the “Big 4” record labels (Sony, EMI and Universal), and is attracting major corporate advertisers such as McDonald’s. 

MTV.com has entered into a partnership with lone remaining Big 4 member,  Warner Music Group, and overtook VEVO as the most popular music website in September 2010.  With all the ongoing changes regarding music ownership and copyright infringement, it seems as though the major labels are finally getting smart.  You will pay for your music in the future, but likely it will be large corporate advertisers making you pay for it with your time.

http://www.billboard.biz/bbbiz/content_display/industry/news/e3i831a0b575c6cd1c6931ba669cb544f9d
http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2009/04/social-networks/