Online Music Streaming Becoming Increasingly Popular

Once upon a time it would take longer to download a song from the internet than it would to actually play the song. Thankfully things have come a long way since then and music streaming is an everyday reality rather than a far of dream. its safe to say that the internet has had a massive impact on how we buy (or not) and discover music. It has also opened up the possibilities when it comes to how we listen to music.



These days even some pay as you go phones come with music downloads (although the less said about Nokia's Comes With Music the better). Most internet users stream music from Youtube even if they don't subscribe to any online radio stations. A recent study by Rajar has investigated the usage of online radio and found that its popularity is rising rapidly. Last month alone in the UK 4.5 million people listened to online radio compared to 2.9 million in October of last year.

Rajar's Measurement of Internet Delivered Audio Services (Midas) report also showed that listening to podcasts and to listen-again services such as the BBC iPlayer was also growing, but at a reduced pace.

One of the most popular online radio services is Spotify who allow users to stream millions of tracks in exchange for either listening to adverts or paying a monthly subscription. Spotify has some major flaws (its search function is basic at best and discovering new music is a struggle) but it allows you to choose what you listen to which means that it is under your control. Ideally Spotify would take some tips from Last.fm in order to become an interactive community.



Its clear to see why Spotify would be more popular than traditional radio, whatever you listen to chances are you will find something you like on Spotify. In this sense it caters for a much larger potential user base than any commercial radio station could without needing to appeal to everyone. What Spotify really needs in some user interaction so that it is easier to find new artists which are relevant to your tastes and get recommendations from people who like the same things you do.

Spotify Helps to 'Curb Music Piracy'

A recent survey has shown that those who use Spotify to stream songs for free are less inclined to illegally download music. Of those questioned who admitted to illegally downloading two thirds said that using Spotify had encouraged them to reduce the amount they downloaded.



This makes you wonder if people want to own music or just want access to it? Now that it is possible to download almost any album for free has owning a collection lost its appeal? CD sales continue to fall whilst legal downloads become more and more popular. It will be interesting to see if the popularity of music streaming will have a negative effect on legal mp3 sales.

Whilst users with a free Spotify account cannot own or stream songs offline they can have round the clock access. Those with a premium account can stream offline and on mobile devices such as the iPhone or the HTC Hero for £10 a month. So far the mobile app is only available with a monthly contract rather than on pay as you go phones so bandwidth limits are not an issue.



Legal downloads continue to rise in popularity with Amazon's mp3 store being a positive example. It has become the second most popular provider of mp3s behind iTunes perhaps due to its household name and lack of DRM crippled files. As CD retailers close their doors it is clear that the music industry needs to change its model. Spotify may well be leading the change.