How Long Will It Take Streaming To Dominate the Music Business?

journovampire writes with this story about the booming music streaming business. "Streaming is on course to make more money for the U.S. music business than downloads and physical sales combined within the next three years. The U.S. appears poised for streaming to become its most valuable music format in either 2016 or 2017, according to MBW forecasts – so long as you include SoundExchange royalties generated by digital radio platforms like Pandora alongside subscription and ad-supported platforms like Spotify. But in the other three biggest recorded music markets in the world – France, Germany and Japan – the public appears more hesitant to allow streaming to take over."

Comments

No thanks

[ArcadeMan]

I already have enough monthly bills.

Re:No thanks

[SternisheFan]

Yep...iTunes and compatible player and you can listen to What you want, When you want, Where you want.

I can't imagine being tied to an internet connection AND an entity on other end of the connection controlling things. Might as well just buy a freaking FM radio.

I've bought music since 8-track, vinyl record, cassette & CD days. MP3s are a God-send! I've ripped all my personnally bought music to MP3, keep it backed up on multiple computers/ usb/ microSD cards/ external hard drives. Also lots of borrowed CD's from the local library. I won't ever need to stream my music for a monthly fee, no reliance on an internet connection, it's just always there.

What about radio?

[xxxJonBoyxxx]

>> money for the U.S. music business than downloads and physical sales

What about radio? That seems like the closest competition. (When I use a streaming service, in large part it's because I want some background music without worrying about picking songs.)

Streaming sucks

[fustakrakich]

As long as you can be blocked based on location, it's no damn good. We have to tear down the borders to make it work the way the internet is supposed to work, wide open worldwide, otherwise just stick with torrents to get what you want when you want it.

I'm amazed

[JustNiz]

I jsut don't get why all the people that will make streaming more popular than downloading are ignoring the obvious downsides of streaming vs. local storage:
1) You can't listen to your music when you dont have an active internet connection.
2) You're basically paying regularly/multiple times to hear the same music you could just pay for/download once.

Re:I'm amazed

[Anonymous Coward]

Spotify lets you download tracks to your device.

Re:Japan is easy to explain

[MightyMartian]

I don't need it on physical CD, but I do need to actually own the music files themselves, in an unlocked non-DRM fashion. Basically, if I can't buy it as at least an MP3 that I can play on everything from an iPod to an FreeBSD workstation, the record label doesn't get my money. And I could care less about streaming.

Time to buy vinyl?

[ponos]

This economy baffles me. I rent a house, lease a car, subscribe to a Adobe software, pay-per-view TV, stream music, and play online-DRM games and god knows what else. The day I stop having income, I don't own a thing. I am not by any means going back to the age of carrying chunks of gold on my person, but I get the impression property is quickly being replaced by service in too many aspects of our living. Although practical and convenient, this can only amplify the financial insecurity of the middle/lower classes.

Well, if the shit hits the fan, I can always listen to my vinyl collection.