In my latest Macworld article, I look at how music’s portability has changed over the years, from LPs to CDs, and now to bits and bytes. I suggest what the future of portable music will look like.
Writings by Kirk McElhearn
In my latest Macworld article, I look at how music’s portability has changed over the years, from LPs to CDs, and now to bits and bytes. I suggest what the future of portable music will look like.
Did you see today’s NY Times op-ed piece about music sales by medium? It bears out your notion that access not acquisition will be the model of music commerce in the future, *but* the size of the market will shrink. Spending on all forms of acquired music is tumbling, and the revenue from streamed music is minuscule compared to acquired. The economics of the industry are headed for a very nasty singularity. Fewer and fewer people are listening to less and less music.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/01/opinion/01blow.html?_r=1&ref=opinion
Did you see today’s NY Times op-ed piece about music sales by medium? It bears out your notion that access not acquisition will be the model of music commerce in the future, *but* the size of the market will shrink. Spending on all forms of acquired music is tumbling, and the revenue from streamed music is minuscule compared to acquired. The economics of the industry are headed for a very nasty singularity. Fewer and fewer people are listening to less and less music.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/01/opinion/01blow.html?_r=1&ref=opinion
I think there’s competition from many different types of leisure activities, which didn’t exist, say, 20 years ago: DVDs and video games especially eat up the budget that may have gone into music.
I think there’s competition from many different types of leisure activities, which didn’t exist, say, 20 years ago: DVDs and video games especially eat up the budget that may have gone into music.