OPINION // Downloading is dead. Discuss.

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OPINION // Downloading is dead. Discuss.

10 April 2010 4 Comments Written by Joe Sparrow

When did you last walk into a record shop, flickety-flack through the CDs (or 7″ records if you were too cool for plastic) and take your selection to the counter?

OK, that question is an old one, and the answer too (“not since I went to emit sad, hollow laughs at the last Public Enemy LP”), but the point is still a prescient one, though in a whole new way.

Downloading is dead. For those who obsessively follow technology news, then please roll your eyes and carry on planning your Web 3.0 start-up. For the rest of us, who use technology as a conduit more than a means to an end, this might be a bit of a surprise.

Actually, maybe it won’t be – if you’ve used Spotify* a similar thought may have pinged into your mind’s inbox recently.

A few years ago, music fans fretted over another harebrained scheme deriving from the record industry’s desire for ENDLESS CONTROL, in particular the mooted idea of changing the status of a customer’s ownership of the music itself.

This particular idea read as follows: even when you bought the CD, you didn’t actually own the music, and were in fact only paying for the privilege to listen to them, which made you wonder what would happen when EMI decided they wanted all their Robbie Williams songs back. (Answer: they released Rudebox, and the public did all the hard work for them)

This sounded like rank stupidity, and made the route towards downloading and owning a song seem even more tempting than before.

But as dumb as it still sounds, the no-ownership situation has come to pass, though perhaps not in the way the labels imagined. Music providers like Spotify make music ownership unnecessary now – and, most importantly, no-one cares.

It is an indication of how quickly people will change their minds if they feel they are getting a good deal. These online streaming services are exactly that: the wildest dreams of any music lover coming true.

If you’re happy to listen to an occasional advert, or pay a paltry sum per month, you can hear any music, whenever you want, however often you like. Why didn’t they sell it to us like this in the first place?

Downloading is, therefore, now defunct. It’ll still exist as a viable outlet for smaller bands, and it will work in their favour. These bands can foster a relationship with fans, and these fans are happy to pay to support them.

But for the Coldplay-buying public, spending time and money downloading from iTunes doesn’t make sense any more.

I spoke to some record label types recently, and they all agreed, with the quiet urgency of people who have just spotted the departing train and begin running just quickly enough to catch it without breaking into a undignified rush, that ad-fuelled/subscription streaming services like Spotify are the future.

I asked them about the future. They shuffled their feet and admitted that they didn’t even know what the music industry would look like in a year, let alone five.

Heady times, ripe for change. Let’s hope the bands and the fans – the people that, you know, count – get a better deal this time.

*And if you’ve not used Spotify yet – well, welcome back, Mr van Winkle; and now go here and prepare to lose the remainder of the day in slack-jawed bliss.

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4 Comments »

jane doe said:

Not that anyone’s in the slightest bit interested- but to me, downloading is like masterbation, yes you get there, get a result, what you require, but it is has limited appeal sensually. Still enjoy going into a store flippin thro cd’s, vinyl, reading all the guff on the back covers, critiquing the artwork. Taking the item home, sitting on the bus considering the experience coming up. Like a meeting with someone- a real emotional interaction. Downloading is like a cheap. dirty debased thrill, yes you know loads out there r doing it, and that makes it the perverted, nasty pastime of the masses. I’m not one of them. and i’m glad.

# 10 April 2010 at 11:25 pm

Joe Sparrow (author) said:

Now there’s an analogy I didn’t expect – but nicely put, if a little… gooey. Still – I think you’ve drawn your line in the sand: you’re part of the minority who love the record shop experience. I’m with you on that count.

However, The vast bulk of people aren’t interested – they want music on demand and don’t want CD jewel-case clutter. iTunes has been a stop-gap: people now see music as a stream of unquantifiable data, if you like, which is where streaming services like Spotify come in.

There’s no need for a connection with a physical object in most people’s minds – just like music was viewed a hundred years ago.

Perhaps we’ve come full circle, or perhaps we’re heading into uncharted waters – the good news is that the new model will, I think, benefit both camps of consumers and, equally importantly, the musicians.

# 11 April 2010 at 10:47 am

Tim said:

At first I was dubious, the low bit rates of streaming music bug me. But I realized that it solves one of my current dilemma. I recently acquired a record player, and have started purchasing vinyl. I don’t exactly have a ton of money, so this puts me in the situation of having to decided what to download, and what to buy on vinyl, so that I get full enjoyment of each. Stream my my computer music for a small flat fee, and then buy what I like on vinyl, seems like the perfect option. Now I just need a 3G enabled device of some sort, cuz the mobile issue is still unsolved. If only Spotify would come out in the US.

# 11 April 2010 at 6:58 pm

Thom Payne said:

Maybe I’m too old to comment on this (not to mention, maybe the post’s too old to comment on) — but I grew up with vinyl, cassettes, then CDs and now iTunes. Radio was not really appealing to me because they didn’t play much that I was interested in. Granted, streaming audio is MUCH more broad — but for me, there will always be the pride of ownership — of a download. I won’t have to worry about the station I love suddenly folding for lack of support, and then — oops — there goes my source for my music. Sure, streaming is the best for the music-of-the-moment folks, but for those of us who like to preserve our listening tastes for posterity, it just doesn’t meet the need.

# 9 September 2010 at 4:31 pm