After reading this post, I got to thinking about Lala again.
We waved bye bye to tangible ownership when we stopped buying CD’s, which made it easier to spread music without paying for it. CD burners opened pandora’s box and Napster was the atom bomb.
I feel like there will be a time in the next five to ten years when cars with have WiFi connections, most likely for a monthly payment like SiriusXM or OnStar. This, in theory, will make sites like Lala the kings since people will honestly not even need CD’s or MP3s anymore. However, why would I want to pay Lala 10 cents when sites like Imeem are streaming most, if not all, of an album for free? Will labels take down their music from Imeem or Pandora? Will people still want CD’s or MP3′s? Will people grow to believe that music is free and never want to pay a cent for it? And on that note, even if Pirate Bay guys go to jail for two years, there will twenty “Pirate Bays” that sprout up in its place.
I know that I only listen to CD’s in my car, but I probably wouldn’t if there was WiFi. As for MP3′s, my iTunes library is my baby and have spent many years and dollars seeing it grow. I don’t have an iPod because I added a $15 2GB microSD card to my Blackberry that actually got for free from mail-in rebates. Would I ever in my right mind give up my iTunes library to pay for streaming music that I previously had in MP3 or CD…hell no!!!!!
My main hesitation to give into Lala is that I grew up knowing, loving, and appreciating album art and linear notes. I feel like most younger generations and even to an extent my own generation doesn’t have the same respect for that lost art. For example, my roommate Arthur spent approximately a month on and off conceptualizing and creating the cover art to the new Soulive album. I feel like cover art appreciation is limited to vinyl aficionados and music elitists. Just look at Beatles records, Pink Floyd records, Yes records, or even the seemingly simplistic nature of most Bob Dyan covers. You don’t get the connection between the cover and the music today when the cover is just chillin in the bottom left corner of iTunes.
So in theory Lala works, but there’s a lot of hardwired cognitions that need to be deactivated in order for the streaming model to be the future standard for the monetization of music distribution.
Great post. I think many more people appreciate album art than you initially believe. This was the main intent of “Cover Flow” mode on the Mac & initially iTunes. While the general public is mostly ignorant, the core of the music community and even its surrounding “suburbs” would be horrified if an album, however acquired, was missing cover art. This is actually one of my main pet peeves when I “share” music is when iTunes can’t find the music, thus I purchase a large majority of the music I own. Especially during my iPhone days, where the iPhone made the cover art a large part of the music listening experience.
Beyond just the front cover, I miss the death of the inside and pullout sleeve art & commentary by the artist. I remember during my vinyl, tape and CD days sitting around a new tape/cd or by my parents mound of vinyl and carefully reading through the pages of literature provided by the artist as I deconstructed their music. Interestingly enough, the “Journey to the Center of the Earth” original soundtrack was one the most captivating pieces and I treasured it.
With regards to the duplicating music, your argument is sound. However, the backstory may be a little more complex. Umbrella licensing for clubs, radio and other venues was a huge thorn in the side of the music industry and for years it has been debated. Why non-terrestrial radio and internet radio is “taxed” by additional fees baffles me but the reason is probably very simple: It’s new, BIG Music is old and confused. But let us not forget the greatest pirating medium of our early childhood, the magnetic tape. Mix tapes between young sweethearts, taping from the radio, and copying VHS from the movie store was a large issue well before the internet or CDs. Still you are absolutely correct, P2P became the medium on which this activity rose to a massive and international scale. Nice post.
In time, everything old becomes new again. How many people are now buying up old vinyl 33 records? I am friendly with professional photographers who are moving back into film. Will “hard” recordings be around in the future, yes. But, they will only be a shell of its former self.
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