Is Streaming Really Replacing Downloading?
from the perhaps-in-some-cases... dept
Lots of attention is being paid today to an article in the Guardian about a new study claiming that illegal file sharing has collapsed in the UK and is being replaced by streaming music found on YouTube and through services like Spotify. The premise of the article is that now that kids have alternatives, they're willing to dump unauthorized file sharing and get by with streaming. While I don't doubt that it may be true in some cases, I'd take these findings with a pretty large grain of salt for a variety of reasons:- It's not based on actual usage data, but on survey data.
- As more and more attention is being paid to people getting sued and fined for online file sharing activities, people are certainly going to be less willing to admit on a survey that they participate.
- This is especially true in the UK, where there's been a tremendous amount of attention on the recent Digital Britain report, which claims, as a goal, to reduce illegal online file sharing activities.
However, even if we take what the article says as proof, it seems quite likely that the industry will muck this up too. Already, we've seen that Spotify is running into licensing problems, and the company is nowhere near being able to turn a profit. And, of course, the industry is pushing for increasingly unsustainable webcasting rates. That's why YouTube and PRS still haven't come to an agreement over all that streaming music in the UK, and even as PRS has tried to lower its rates to make a deal, some of the record labels are actually demanding the rates be pushed back up.
This is how the legacy industry kills anything even remotely positive. The second that the industry sees anything that's working, it suddenly smothers it by demanding to get a bigger and bigger cut. We've seen it for years. As soon as iTunes started to be successful, the labels pushed to get a bigger and bigger cut from any sale (and to push the prices of each song higher). More recently, with the massive success of video games like Guitar Hero and Rock Band helping to promote music (and making musicians a ton of money), the labels have been demanding a bigger cut as well.
Rather than understanding how to create and foster a healthy music ecosystem, it seems that some of the major label bosses have learned how to do one thing only: squeeze each tiny baby lemon as hard as possible until it's dry, never giving it a chance to actually grow. And then they wonder how come each new revenue stream doesn't make as much money as their old way of doing business.
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Filed Under: downloading, recording industry, streaming
Companies: google, spotify
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
Pssh!
At least, given the negligible state of broadband in the US--it takes at least 10 hours to download a quality movie; and there's no way I'm waiting 10 hours for something to buffer.
So, downloading is king--until broadband gets better.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Pssh!
At least, given the negligible state of broadband in the US--it takes at least 10 hours to download a quality movie; and there's no way I'm waiting 10 hours for something to buffer.
Who said anything about movies? This article is about MUSIC, which as everyone knows is the center of everyone's lives.
People can live without movies, but would die a slow, agonizing death if their daily music "fix" were cut off!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Pssh!
Sarcasm... I like it!
Screw the music, and the industry that spawns it. And even though the movie industry is no better than the music industry (nor any smarter), I'll still buy DVDs for the foreseeable future... when they're on sale for $5 or less (and the occasional few at almost any price--'cause I'll watch them over and over and over again.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Pssh!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Yes
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
I already prefer streaming
I stream using hulu and netflix. My netflix streaming que has about 120 videos in it. My hulu queue probably has about 50. If a show doesn't make it easy for me to watch, I don't see it.
I'm the future too. Kids today play games, they don't watch cable. Profiting from video entertainment is going to be increasingly difficult. The concern will be getting people to watch.
Locking things away only results in people not caring.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: I already prefer streaming
talking about MUSIC
M-U-S-I-C
not
V-I-D-E-O
Although the technology used to stream video is very similar to the technology used to stream music, this particular article doesn't care.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Streaming
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
you can't trust streams
it might be good enough for some, but not this guy. i'd rather trust the pirates.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
I hope the RIAA dies painfully because of its greed
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: I hope the RIAA dies painfully because of its greed
However, as we clearly now know, that didn't happen. In fact, music videos ENHANCED music sales. Come on RIAA figure it the f!@# out already!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Most of which have to do with the article's content not meeting up with Masnick Universal View of FREE!
More holes in a swiss cheese theory.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
I somewhat agree
Eventually I see the music industry using this streaming model much more with the addition of the ad revenue model. I see the most popular artists eventually being able to support themselves completely from ad revenues based on hits to their streaming songs, public profiles, and also video plays. I know that Beat-Play will be experimenting with giving artists ad revenues for their streams. We are also home to the first music stem auction, and we only take 5.5% of each sale. We don't charge to post, so we also Promote artists for FREE in a number of different ways. One of these ways will include allowing friends to share the music they find with their friends freely, almost Pandora style, and utilize these social networks to help artists get streaming hits. With this model the music you like could find you. This way, the artists still get paid, and the fans get the music for free and can still share it. We will also have the option available for artists to sell their music. But we feel a combination of both methods will be needed in the future to serve different artist's needs. We are currently still in development stages with Beat-Play, but to sign up as a BETA TESTER for our Fall 09 release, go to http://musicwithoutlabels.com About us Video is coming soon, go to the forums to learn more for now.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Nice!
Hey sounds great! Looks like you have a good, solid handle on the technology, the market, how to make everyone money, and most importantly what the consumer WANTS.
We will miss you! You see, you have figured it out, and the music industry WILL NOT allow this to stand. Somehow, someway, they will stifle, threaten, litigate, coerce, or outright try to buy you in order to shut you down.
If they cant control it directly, it must be eliminated. Sadly, this is the modern music industry. I salute your valid attempt at this, and will mourn you when you are gone.
I am only being somewhat facetious....
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
streaming != downloading
Pretty much useless for loading your mp3 player, for remixing(fair use or not), or making a mix cd for your next road trip.. you can ONLY do these things with a physical file download (or cd rip, IF you wasted your money on the cd) in a high bitrate or lossless format.
Streaming is for all intents and purposes, just like basic fm radio.. useful for s few things and that's it.
This applies equally to BOTH video and audio sources.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Streaming is the Future
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Spotify
I'm a massive music fan, and rarely drop out of Spotify these days, despite having stacks of CDs in the other room and having spent a fair bit of time on bittorrent and other services in the past.
The truth is that it takes me less time to boot Spotify and play a track than it does to trawl through my MP3 collection, wait for my music player to load, and then play it. It's just more convenient.
Anecdotal evidence, I know, but I can believe that filesharing in the UK among the mainstream is decreasing for exactly those reasons.
Spotify has a surprisingly high profile over here, and Bittorrent's only real advantage over it is the catalogue. Sure - there'll always be die-hard pirates who keep sharing, but the general public who are mainly confused by Bittorrent may well be abandoning it.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Spotify
Right. I tried to say that in the post. I wouldn't be totally surprised if it was true... but the point was that the industry would muck it up.
Still... that Morgan Stanley "analysis" by the intern suggested that his friends don't trust streaming services, and given that the industry will probably screw it up, they might be right.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Streaming is too expensive
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Streaming might reach new hieghts but downloading is still strong
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
PAY PER DOWNLOAD
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Spotify
I'm going to a small-scale festival next month and I'm checking out the bands on Spotify. So far, I've been able to find nearly everything I want. Like Duncan, I'm using Spotify more and more. My only issues are: sometimes my connection is too slow to stream properly, and (like Mike said in his reply) the risk that the industry will screw it up. But right now, it's near-perfect.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]