Amazon beat Apple and Google to the punch by recently announcing the official launch of their new web-based music player, store and storage solution.
The concept is simple. When your music library is stored on a web server, you can access it anywhere you have an internet connection – no transferring of files from device to device, no downloading (unless you want to), no syncing, and no worrying about losing your content due to drive failure. The term ‘cloud’ comes from ‘cloud computing’, and simply refers to the fact that your owned content remains on a provider’s server.
Ready or not, there is little doubt that this method of product consumption will become the norm in the years to come. Not just music of course – its expected that Apple and Google will launch later this year with solutions that incorporate video, apps, etc. But it doesn’t stop there either, these three big players all intend to become your ‘cloud’ provider, hosting any and all of your digitized content.
But since the news of the day is just about music, what does this mean for that industry? Allow me to speculate wildly;
Imagine a single web server-based music library/database. Anyone who wishes to consume any type of music subscribes to this service, which grants them access to any and all music without additional cost. The usage of each piece of music is tracked individually, so artists/labels can be paid royalties accordingly (much like how radio currently operates).
Advertisements are also linked to the music – higher paying advertisers will seek slots associated with the most popular music, much like we’re starting to see on YouTube.
The digital files could be pirated, but it won’t happen because its too inconvenient for people to store their own files – all smartphones, computers, etc will be developed around the cloud system of storage/retrieval/access, and therefore won’t have their own onboard storage.
It will probably be the music industry’s knight in shining armour, yet Amazon may well face lawsuits from the the likes of Sony Music. Amazing……