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Get Ready For a Streaming Music Die-Off

Posted by Soulskill on from the tiny-pieces-of-a-tiny-pie dept.

walterbyrd writes "Streaming services are ailing. Pandora, the giant of its class and the survivor at 13 years old, is waging an ugly war to pay artists and labels less in order to stay afloat. Spotify, in spite of 6 million paid users and 18 million subscribers who humor some ads in their stream, has yet to turn a profit. Rhapsody axed 15% of its workforce right as Apple's iTunes Radio hit the scene. On-demand competitor Rdio just opted for layoffs too, in order to move into a 'scalable business model.' Did no one wonder about that business-model bit in the beginning? Meanwhile, Turntable.fm, a comparatively tiny competitor with what should have been viral DNA, just pulled the plug on its virtual jam sessions this week—and it just might be the canary in the coal mine."

11 of 370 comments (clear)

  1. It's a doomed race against time by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    The next generation may be the one that grows up without music.

    1. Re:It's a doomed race against time by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

      Just one Antares VST plugin (Auto-Tune 7), and you sing as well as any modern pro can.

    2. Re:It's a doomed race against time by mugnyte · · Score: 5, Funny

      The FOSS auto-tune alternative has been around a long time. It's called "practice"

    3. Re:It's a doomed race against time by Ralph+Spoilsport · · Score: 4, Funny
      "So basically, your post is laden with iron."

      I saw that too, and wondered, Whiskey Tango Foxtrot? IF they know what converse means, then they're being ironic, if they don't then it's ironic that they don't, so no matter what you do, it's ironic, only the irony is directed differently depending. In fact, it becomes tautologically ironic, because he might be ironically posing to not know what it means, and thusly showing his irony in a self conscious way. It's like Goedel's "This sentence is false". Only dumb.

      --
      Shoes for Industry. Shoes for the Dead.
    4. Re:It's a doomed race against time by Cro+Magnon · · Score: 5, Funny

      My problem isn't that I can't sing. It's just a little distracting when everyone keeps throwing rotten fruit at me while I'm singing.

      --
      Slow down, cowboy! It has been 4 hours since you last posted. You must wait another few hours.
    5. Re:It's a doomed race against time by vux984 · · Score: 5, Funny

      Hell, I bet dedicated audiophiles could probably come up with studio quality stuff using nothing more complex than Audacity.

      Dedicated musicians could.

      Dedicated audiophiles would blow the entire project budget on a 4 foot patch cord.

    6. Re:It's a doomed race against time by nwf · · Score: 3, Funny

      My problem isn't that I can't sing. It's just a little distracting when everyone keeps throwing rotten fruit at me while I'm singing.

      Have you tried dry humping another person on the stage. I hear that works well for popularity.

      --
      I don't know, but it works for me.
  2. Who cares. by nospam007 · · Score: 4, Funny

    The musical taste of an peson set at age 14.
    So just download the last 20 years of music in about half an hour you have your music for life.

  3. Re:The article is FUD by Sponge+Bath · · Score: 5, Funny

    Just look at the radio

    I don't think that's how radios work.

  4. Bitches and hoes by tepples · · Score: 4, Funny

    That's what gets me. If rappers insist on singing about bitches and hoes, why aren't there more rap songs about dog breeding and gardening?

  5. Re:The article is FUD by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    That you're a pedant.