I have a problem with paying for downloaded music, and I am sure I am not alone. It isn't that I don't believe in the concept of rightfully paying for and supporting music that enriches my life. For one thing, I get a bit of cognitive dissonance here- paying for something (for about the same amount of money that I would pay for physical media) that I can not touch, see or smell. Call me old school, but part of the music collecting experience for me is about the physical manifestation of the music. Secondly, there is no backup plan when it comes to these MP3 or AAC files; one dead hard drive or freak accident of nature can wipe out thousands of dollars worth of music in an instant. At least with physical media, you have something that is stable, relatively secure and can serve as an archive.
My prediction about the future of music is that the technology that destroyed music will come back and save it. The existence of music-only devices is dead. Everything in the foreseeable future will be based on the smartphone platform, i.e., the iPod, iPhone, iPad, etc. At some point there will be a convergence of standards/platforms, as well as breakthroughs in connectivity that will allow devices to communicate with each other wirelessly and effortlessly without the need for computers and software. At some point albums will be purchased and used like a smartphone app. This will help to alleviate the problem of having a disaster back-up since all purchasers of the "album app" will be registered and can re-download music as-needed. The album app will enable the incorporation of multimedia such as text, pictures, video, games, puzzles, etc. And best of all, the album app will be dynamic- it can be updated and enhanced over time, just like smartphone apps today. So, for example, at any given moment, all registered users of a particular album may receive a free update of live bonus tracks or a new music video or even blog entries and concert tour announcements, etc. Everybody wins- the consumer gets an enhanced musical experience, the artist gets paid, the record labels get paid and the cost of distribution is much lower.
It is a shame that Apple hasn't started up a music label division; they currently have dominance in the smartphone/portable music playing arena and all of this technology is within reach. It's a totally lost opoprtunity!
|