Now that we’re at the dawn of a new decade, people are beginning to look back and analyze the previous one. In the last ten years, both the internet and music have come a long way. Internet radio sites are just as easy to access as AM/FM stations. Popular social sites and radio sites are now connected so that music is a social experience. Applications for mobile devices connect to the web so that we can listen to music no matter where we are.
It’s not hard to see that we’ve come a long way with music applications. Now we can look to the next decade, and only guess what it will bring. One thing’s for sure, however; the realm of music apps will only continue to grow.
What We Have Today
Before we start looking towards the future, it’s important to take a look at what we already have now. After all, how can we see what is to come without knowing what is already out there?
As far as music applications go, most serve more than just the purpose of playing songs. Nowadays, the internet is used to make music a social experience. One of the most popular music services, Pandora, now has an app for Facebook users so that they can put their stations into their profiles. Another big name, Last.fm, is in itself a community based music site.
Right now, we can see music services and social services blending. Music has always been a pretty social activity. I’m sure most of us can remember going to concerts, sharing CDs, and listening to the radio with family and friends. Online music apps are striving to recreate the social scene that music has always provided. Nothing can really replace real human interaction, but in other ways, these applications are going above and beyond. Ten years ago, could any of us have so easily discussed music with someone anywhere in the world? That’s not to say that all users of these sites have anything particularly deep or interesting to say about the music. Regardless, it’s still a level of connection that music hasn’t ever seen before.
That’s where we are today. Next is a look ahead at what’s to come.
Blue Skies for Internet Radio
If the past few years are any indication, internet radio is only going to grow in years to come. When they were new, only a few people seemed to be tuning in. Now, you’d be hard pressed to find someone online that had never used it. One can only assume that this is an industry that is going to grow. After all, everyone likes music, and everyone likes to be able to listen for free. It’s easy to think that this trend will only continue to grow.
There’s a bit of a dark shadow over the success of internet radio, however. As mentioned in an earlier blog, royalty problems were threatening companies for quite some time. This has more or less been resolved, though it came at a certain cost. Pandora’s forty hour per month rule is one such example. On a brighter note, this doesn’t seem to be deterring listeners. People hit the limit, sure. But that doesn’t mean they aren’t going to come back next month and use it again, and then again the month after that.
If there’s anything I can say about the future of radio on the internet, it’s that it seems to be looking up. We can only speculate about what tomorrow is going to bring, but the forecast looks to be sunny for internet radio apps.
Online Music Branching Out
I can’t think that places like Facebook could be classified as music sites by any stretch of the imagination, and Twitter is even less likely to be seen as one. Maybe MySpace, which has a section of the site dedicated to music, could fall under such a label. Still, it’s not in question that the main purpose of these sites is social networking. So how are they really going to have any impact online music?
One trend that seems to be continually growing is accessibility. Countless applications have popped up that allow you to easily post whatever it is you happen to be listening to. It’s easy to tweet your favorite song, or update your Facebook status about that tune you just can’t get out of your head. 
Sharing playlists is just as simple, and on MySpace you can even add songs to your profile that MySpace musicians have uploaded. It’s never been such a cinch to see what your friends are listening to or to show off your tastes.
You might wonder how letting people see what you’re listening to is really going to affect that future of music. At first, I thought it seemed pretty unimportant. Then I thought about how many artists I came to like through a recommendation, or because someone else’s tastes grew on me. The future for music on social networking sites may progress unnoticed by many, but it’s definitely going to keep progressing.
Based on What You Like
Recommendations from our friends are great, but recommendations from a music player is a relatively new concept. It’s more or less what Pandora is built around. You give the name of an artist or song that you like, and it gives you songs that are similar. Last.fm’s scrobbler does the same thing. More recently, iTunes has added the Genius feature.
Genius works by looking at all of the songs in your library, then building playlists from other songs you own. It also makes playlists for genres, taking the styles you have most of and forming mixes from them. If you use iTunes and choose to use the Genius sidebar, you also get a list of songs similar to what you’re currently listening to that you don’t already own. It’s Apple’s not-so-subtle way of trying to sell you more, but it does let you find more to listen to.
Today, these programs are pretty good at making suggestions. It’s no surprise. Music is selected based on criteria as specific as having major key tonality or folk influences in common. Recommendations engines are becoming steadily more popular, and I daresay they’ll continue to. In the future, they’re going to keep getting better at finding music you’ll like.
Buying Your Tunes
The nice thing about internet radio is that you don’t have to pay a cent, but you’re eventually going to come across songs or albums that you like enough to buy. Purchasing music online isn’t really a big development. Before we could download mp3s from the comfort of our homes, we just bought CDs and thought nothing of it. Getting our music online isn’t that much of a change, except that we can do it in our pajamas.
It’s the little things that have been overlooked, though. Now, if there’s one spectacular song, you don’t have to buy the whole album only to find out the rest are subpar. If want to listen to something right away, then you can have it in minutes. And of course, there’s always the aforementioned pajama benefit.
Music can be bought online from a variety of places, from iTunes to Amazon to Walmart. Online stores are harder to predict the future of. It’s easy to see that they won’t run dry for business, unless people suddenly stop liking music. Surely scientific developments will change the way we listen to our music, just as they always have, and these stores will adapt to that. But above all, they’re going to keep growing. As long as music keeps being made, they will continue advancing.
What We’ll Have Tomorrow
It’s impossible to know exactly what’s going to happen or what the future holds, of course. However, music has been part of the human race for as long as we can remember, evolving all along the way. The internet is just the next step forward, and in the coming decade, we’ll surely be able to look towards new developments and growth.
If you would like to make a comment, please fill out the form below.
You must be logged in to post a comment.
