The Evolution of Music Discovery
Navigating the plethora of music mediums
By Barnaby Maclaine
Creative at VBAT
The landscape of music consumption has changed drastically in the last 30 years. This change has affected all parts of the industry and consumers have found the need to navigate through a plethora of mediums, formats and devices in order to keep up. Over this period each medium has offered its pros and cons in terms of music quality and accessibility. As music consumption has broadly changed from the physical object to the invisible cloud the format wars between manufactures has been replaced by the now content distributors.
With the emergence of the smartphone, faster data connections and mass cloud/server storage the consumer has naturally turned to their mobile device and the internet as the most convenient way to listen to music. The landscape has shifted dramatically to an industry that’s all about convenience and accessibility. When pretty much any song you want to listen to is a text type away. Gone are the days of taping your favourite song from the radio and then buying the single from a high-street shop at the weekend.
Streaming is now king and as with most internet based trends it’s the start-ups who have stolen a march on the big brands. The likes of Spotify and Deezer have so far claimed the spotlight being amongst the first to secure big record labels and create a UX that is both accessible but also social. Until this year these key proponents have satisfied but we have yet to see Apples iTunes service at the streaming party. With its recent acquisition of Beats and hiring the likes of radio DJ Zane Lowe surely Apple will try and bring some further innovation to music streaming.
Innovation will certainly play its part in how the user can connect, discover and share music.
A good example of this is the recently launched reward based music discovery app called Tradiio. Users listen to artists who have uploaded their music to Tradiio, investing virtual coins in the artists they like. Popular artists and successful investors receive real life prizes, from concert tickets to festival slots.
It’s platforms like Tradiio that bring new and interesting ways for users to connect with the music and it’s a type of gamification that engages a user beyond the standard plug and play UX.
However in the race to UX perfection some fascists of music consumption have been left behind. The obvious one being physical ownership, music after all is an art and it seems a shame that we are loosing the objects that represents who we are and the bands we love. Album artwork and carefully crafted inlay cards are now an image on your screen rather than on your wall at home. The recent resurgence of vinyl sales is most likely a reaction to this loss of a physical connection with the music.
The quality of audio has also paid the price in the early years of streaming. Highly compressed mp3 files means that songs loose their clarity, depth and definition. A huge backward step from CD quality. However we are already starting to see this gap being filled as streaming services such as Tidal and Deezer’s Elite membership offer CD quality audio for a more premium price.
So whether it be about accessibility, price, music quality or social engagement the plethora of platforms still exists today as it did back in the 80’s. Yes the landscape has altered drastically, music has certainly become more accessible but it very much feels as though the journey to music consumption perfection is some way off.
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Follow VBAT on Twitter | Like us on Facebook written by Barnaby Maclaine Creative at VBAT
