The Progression of Online Music

It's amazing when you take a step back and look at the progression of technology. We are living through an incredibly fast-changing and innovative digital era where new technology comes out all the time. With the rise of technology, everything has become interactive. With the rise of the internet and online social networks, people have changed how they build relationships and receive content. It's important though, for every industry to stay modern and keep up with the times. Music is no exception. In order to understand how to innovate in the future it is important that we understand progression in the past. 

The three big events in interactive music technology that stand out to me are: Napster, Myspace and Spotify. Napster was the first interactive music community ever....and it was huge. Vanity Fair defines Napster as "that free song-sharing service upended the music industry." That's quite accurate. Napster was the first to utilize interactive media to change the music industry. Now, people were building relationships with each other to listen to music, as opposed to going through the record companies. This was at the beginning of a time were people stop relying on larger industries for services and use the internet instead. 

Myspace created an entire social-network based around discovering music, and it was incredibly successful. It was founded in 2003 and according to Bloomberg Businessweek, it attracted 75.9 million monthly unique visitors in the U.S. This was the first step in creating a more social community around music and it changed the technological world. Many of the social networks we use today followed in Myspace's footsteps in many ways. 


And then came Spotify, founded in 2006, that is almost a hybrid of the two. Spotify understands internet user's expectations and that is why they are so successful. They knew 2 things: people expect music to be at their fingertips and did not want to own it anymore. And now, as PCMag puts it, Spotify has "killed my need to own music." You get unlimited streaming for $9.99 anytime, anywhere. This is a phenomenal example of understanding current users today and creating products for the needs and want of technology users. 

And that is the key to developing innovative interactive media products, for the music industry and outside of it. After gaining a degree in Interactive Media, I see the music industry becoming more and more interactive. I think there is real potential for utilizing interactive media for live shows and enhancing those experiences. In order to create successful products, the music industry must be able to act on the changes in the technological world and how people are using that technology.