Everyone remembers Kazaa. The music file sharing service that severely damaged the music industry. It was created by Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis. Both men are now back in the industry and in the works of creating a program called Rdio. Rdio, much like Rhapsody, is a subscription based program for listening to music. I was surprised to read that labels such as E.M.I were seriously considering working with Rdio, considering how much damage these two people caused from their past creation. However, if their ideas are innovative and seem to help with success in the future, I guess it makes more sense to jump on board rather than pass it up, no matter who it's with.
But future success is questionable. Is a monthly subscription through a program such as Rdio really going to benefit these labels? Rhapsody has been competing with iTunes for years, and the numbers are not even close. Sure, paying a reasonable amount to listen to music on your computer and create playlists does sound inviting, but not when you can't transfer these files onto your iPod and take them with you.
Also, when it comes to streaming music, Pandora has done a pretty good job of taking over that market, and finding their own niche. Not only does it continually stream music, but they have created their program to personally sort through music that you as the listener would like, based on the whatever artist or song you originally chose.
Of course entreprueners are going to keep trying to find innovative ways to make money in the music industry, but I just don't think that adding another monthly subscription based program for streaming music is needed in the industry. I don't think there is much money to be made in that area.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/14/technology/internet/14music.html?scp=1&sq=music%20industry&st=cse
-Lyndsie Klott
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