GigaOM » digital music services

Spotify could have browser-based version coming soon

Tom Krazit — Sun, 09 Sep 2012 16:56:16 +0000

Spotify is every bit a modern music service, except for one thing: in order to use it on a PC or Mac, you have to download an application. That may be no big deal for users of smartphones or tablets (who seem to enjoy Spotify’s mobile apps), but it’s still a little weird on a desktop or laptop.

And so, a report that Spotify plans to release a browser-based version of its service makes a fair amount of sense.

TechCrunch reported Saturday that Spotify–the brainchild of Daniel Lorentzon and Daniel Elk–will release a web service in the near future that will allow users to log in to their Spotify accounts from any PC or Mac to stream music. The report said that the service will likely add a few new music-discovery features as well.

While the apps-vs.-web question may still be an ongoing debate in mobile development (with apps leading the way in most cases), web-delivered experiences have come to define most of what we do on PCs and Macs these days. Going to a browser-oriented version could help Spotify sign up more users and could also make for a more interesting experience when playlists can be accessed from any computer with an internet connection.

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Don’t stop the music: The average shared Spotify playlist contains 170 songs

Janko Roettgers — Mon, 06 Aug 2012 18:23:04 +0000

If you’re anything like me, you probably spent a good time of your youth compiling mixtapes. 90 minutes of music for friends and special someones, with clever intros and perfectly timed breaks for that inevitable moment of interruption after 45 minutes. Today, those restraints don’t exist, with digital music services like Spotify offering the ability to compile playlists that could theoretically go on forever.

Turns out, in many cases they do – or at least for a very long time: The average share Spotify playlist contains a whopping 170 songs, according to new data released by ShareMyPlaylists.com.

The site announced Monday that its users have shared a total of 100,000 Spotify playlists since its launch three years ago, with 200 new playlists being added each and every day. In addition to that, ShareMyPlaylists.com helped to compile more than 1.5 million playlists through its playlist generator. And more than 15,000 playlists are shared through the site and its apps each and every day.

ShareMyPlaylist.com is another example for a company that has been able to carve out its niche as part of the Spotify ecosystem. Two months ago, social music listening service Soundrop became the first Spotify app to raise significant funding, with Northzone investing $3 million in the Oslo-based company.

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Yandex bets on iPhone to get Russia paying for music

Bobbie Johnson — Wed, 30 May 2012 10:00:52 +0000

Moscow-based search engine Yandex is hoping to steal a march on international rivals with a new music subscription app for the iPhone — but it’s gambling that users will be ready to stump up cash for the service in a country where paid-for digital music is rare.

With major music services like Spotify and Rdio yet to launch in Russia, Yandex plans to announce the iOS app later on Wednesday, offering users the chance to tap into its Yandex Music service and pay for the right to stream direct to their handsets or iPods.

But while the subscription proposition is fairly common among international services, it’s not the norm everywhere — and that could prove tricky.

Most music services in Russia are free, including the web-based version of Yandex Music, which launched in 2009. In order to take that service mobile, however, the company is asking people to pay 199 roubles each month (around $6) for the right stream a library of music that currently holds more than 3 million tracks by 80,000 artists over the air to their phone.

There are subscription services available locally, including Zvooq.ru, which charges $5 a month for mobile and offline access — but, like Yandex, it still offers a free web player.

Yandex, which owns around two-thirds of the Russian search market, is clearly hoping it can covert some of its 5 million monthly web listeners to go the mobile route. But even it can convince them, just 2 percent of Russians use iPhones and — perhaps more importantly — the Russian music market is relatively undeveloped, with total sales across all formats of less than $100 million for 2011.

Turning profit in a market that is heavily reliant on piracy is tough — but could prove a significant bonus for the first company to really crack the problem, as Zvooq’s founders told the Financial Times last year:

“Some people see piracy as a threat, but we see it as a ready market with tens of millions of people consuming music online. It’s an opportunity,” says Simon Dunlop, one half of the duo behind Zvooq.ru, the online music service (whose name reflects Russian zvuk “sound”).

“If you have an established pirate market, it forces you to be that much better because you are competing with the free stuff,” he says.

Still, most potential entrants are steering clear for now. While our map of the worldwide market shows that there are 13 digital music services available locally, most international players have stayed out. Only Deezer and YouTube could really be considered global services: Spotify, for example, has no outpost in the region, despite taking a large slice of funding from the Moscow investment group Digital Sky Technologies.

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Why do so many digital music services fail?

Charles Caldas, Merlin — Sat, 17 Mar 2012 19:00:01 +0000

In the pre-digital music market, people had a wide array of options of where, and how, to purchase music. Both tiny specialty stores and big chains succeeded by serving particular demographics. But when it comes to digital music, only a handful of outlets can truly be classed as successful.

As the CEO of Merlin, an organization that represents independent music rights, I’ve watched the growth of the digital music market with great interest. The current process of supply and licensing should make it simpler and more efficient than ever to create a compelling music destination. So why do many services fail, and so few succeed?

The growth of the legitimate digital market, and in particular the recent growth of subscription services such as Spotify, Muve Music and Rdio (all of whom are partners with Merlin), strongly suggests that, when given the opportunity, consumers are happy to pay for an easy-to-use, cost-effective service that provides them with all the music they need. Yet on the other hand, we have seen services such as Nokia Comes with Music, iMeem, the first iteration of Myspace Music (and, if we are to believe recent speculation, Mog) fail to capture the attention of consumers and ultimately fail as attractive commercial propositions.

From Merlin’s perspective, we believe that there are a couple of key factors that contribute to this state of affairs. First off, some new services seem to fundamentally misunderstand where the actual value in the digital music market lies. The second factor, related to the first, is the behavior of the largest players in the market. These companies seem more concerned with protecting and recreating the long-lost market advantages they once enjoyed in the physical market place, rather than offering consumers a broad, attractive set of digital music services.

With its limited shop windows, its pricy shelf space and its tightly controlled marketing channels, the major labels had much more control over the shape of the physical market than they do in the online world. By its very nature, the Web can offer music fans a vast array of opportunities to discover new music. (A survey conducted by Merlin of its members’ digital business last year bears this out, showing that independents perform better in the digital sphere than they did in physical markets). However, new digital services often construct their services based on physical market shares. Major labels, who are actively trying to reconstruct their old-world advantage in a new digital economy, are undoubtedly influencing these startups. So instead of providing what listeners want to hear, music services end up building their consumer offering around what the majors force upon them as a cost of getting to market.

At Merlin we still see services that, through ignorance or as a consequence of major label market distortions, treat independents as an afterthought and end up launching with an inferior repertoire. Not surprisingly, they struggle to succeed. Consumers are not stupid. They are the ones paying the subscription fees, they see the gaps in the catalog. And when those gaps include some of the world’s leading artists or its rising indie stars, they quickly stop paying — or never start.

By now it should be patently clear that the services that are truly successful have one thing in common (be they iTunes or Spotify on the legal side of the fence, or BitTorrent or Pirate Bay on the other); they offer a truly comprehensive repertoire from all labels — major and independent — to an ever-increasing and loyal client base.

If you are a startup music service looking to attract the digitally active, early adopters (the key demographic you need to build hype so that you may ultimately reach a broader market), you need to recognize that Arcade Fire, Grizzly Bear and the National are more likely to be at the top of the search lists, not Gaga or Maroon 5.

Such successful services as iTunes and Spotify recognized early on that the digital market was a totally new dynamic. The secret to success was to provide access to a remarkable depth and breadth of music, embodied particularly by leading indie bands. These services stuck to their guns, ensured that independents were properly represented — not consigned to the fringes — and now they are reaping their reward.

Those neighborhood specialist stores and chains would not have succeeded without the right mix of products for their customer base. So it is no surprise that the digital services that have ignored this fundamental fact have failed.

The effort to further consolidate the major labels with the UMG-EMI acquisition will likely make things worse. Putting even more power in the hands of a company that already tries to shape legal music services to its own advantage probably won’t lead to a consumer-friendly outcome. I sincerely hope the EU and U.S. regulators reviewing this transaction will realize the negative impact further consolidation would have on the digital music market, and act accordingly.

One thing is absolutely clear — services that ignore consumers’ needs by not offering a comprehensive catalog or who launch only what the major labels tell them to launch will be quickly found out, and will fail. Our hope, and that of independent artists everywhere, lies with those services that understand the new digital consumer, and construct their offerings according to that vision. The services that focus on satisfying the needs of music buyers, rather than the needs of the dominant suppliers, will be the ultimate winners.

With 20 years of experience in the music and digital media industries, Charles Caldas moved to London in 2007 to launch and assume the role of CEO of Merlin, a global rights agency for the independent label sector. Merlin’s members’ repertoire represents approximately ten percent of digital services worldwide.

Image courtesy of Flickr user photosteve101.

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