Music Streaming Is Here To Stay
Human nature, the smartphone, and Frank Ocean have all contributed to music streaming’s success story
Human nature dictates our urge to want things, and to want them immediately. We want the newest iPhone. We want Ray-Bans. We want, as George Carlin would say, “stuff.” There was a time, not so long ago, when purchasing a song online satisfied this innate desire. You no longer had to rush yourself to a brick-and-mortar store and purchase an album just so you could hear one song off of it and ditch the rest (I’m looking at you, Baha Men). Instead, buying songs only when you wanted them was more convenient and efficient. A dollar per song, no money wasted.
I know what you’re thinking: Today, this method of music consumption seems both archaic and astonishly limited. We now have music subscription services such as Spotify, Apple Music, and Tidal (among others) that each provide a seemingly endless catalog of music, allowing consumers to listen to millions of songs for their listening pleasure. It unleashes an unprecedented level of freedom that downloads and albums could never touch. It allows consumers to discover new music quickly and conveniently — providing instant gratification on a massive scale with more possibilities. It’s a natural and exciting next step in the evolution of music listening.
Of course, the big caveat to music streaming, like any other subscription-based service, is that you only have access to the music catalog as long as you pay a monthly fee, which averages around $10/month. At first glance, the concept of a monthly fee doesn’t sound great, but it makes more sense when compared to the nickel-and-diming of on-demand downloading. Let’s break it down:
Downloading: Ten dollars can buy you ten songs ($1/song), but assuming that you’re a normal human being who doesn’t want to listen to those same ten songs for the rest of your life, you’ll end up downloading more and more songs. And each one will cost you.
Streaming: You can pay ten dollars per month to a music subscription service, which will grant you access to almost any song imaginable with no playback limit. If that doesn’t sound good enough, these services don’t require a commitment so you can cancel at any time, and they usually have promotions or bundles that can save you money.
For those of you who download illegally, this article isn’t for you. We’re sticking to good ol’ puritan stuff here. Now let’s move on.
Music streaming services have been gaining subscribers at an impressive rate in recent years. What explains this? The simple answer: music streaming fits nicely into the mold of mobile technology. Mobile technology has matured over the years, becoming faster and more accessible, which has encouraged more people to listen to tunes on their daily commute, during a workout, and for leisure simply because their music can be found right on their iPhone, Android device, or Windows phone (because who has a Blackberry anymore?). This, combined with easier access to the internet, has made it more and more tempting to listen to the latest music that gets released. Spotify recognized this opportunity very early in 2008, but Apple’s 2015 launch of its music subscription service, Apple Music, was the real watershed moment for music streaming: One of the largest companies in the world, by investing in their own streaming service, was admitting that music subscriptions were the next big thing.
This year, artists are now forcing the hand (or should I say, ear) of consumers who are considering a switch to music streaming. For instance, some of the most iconic musicians in the world have prioritized music subscription streams over traditional album sales. If you wanted to hear the initial release of Kanye West’s highly anticipated album, The Life of Pablo, you had to subscribe to Tidal. How about Rihanna’s ANTI? Subscribe to Tidal. Similarly, Frank Ocean released his sophomore studio album, Blonde, exclusively on Apple Music before it was made available anywhere else. The most telling part of the story, however, is that you still cannot buy any of the songs on Blonde individually on iTunes, or even purchase the physical album in stores. Meanwhile, The Life of Pablo isn’t even available as an option to download. Artist exclusivity has led to fierce, yet healthy competition between streaming services, while music downloads and albums are largely left deserted.
Put simply, if you’re on the fence, it’s about time to embrace streaming. If you haven’t given it a try yet, you can score a free trial as a first-time user from any of the most popular music subscription services. Once you start, with an entire catalog of music at your fingertips, you’ll probably never want to go back (unless you download illegally — why are you still here?).