Often during the last year when I wanted to check out interesting bands, I just went to Youtube or Myspace to listen to their music. There is no files to download and no music to own. This is very convenient, very legal and has major effects on the idea of selling-buying-owning music. When all music is available for free at servers that the artist controls, there is unlimited access to the ultimate music collection, that we all share. This is very nice for a listener, but maybe not as good for the musicians.
As the musical inflation accelerates, there is so much so available music that no one really cares. As we dont even have to do the small effort of downloading, this could lead to an economic disaster for musicians who feels they have to giva away more and more for free by just releasing it all on their sites.
I like this movement in many ways, but are there any solution for musicians who wants to make some money? My own ideas are live gigs and attractive digital solutions. Gigs can be magical and will always be worth a lot to an audience. And who gets to shag in front of a computer screen anyway? Good digital solutions, like our Web Album, with interactivity, contact between the artists and fans, and such attempts will be attempted, I hope some of them will prevail.
Not to forget the people who really likes the idea of ownership. I read that vinyl records is a new trend, as they are attractive, sound great and has this physical beauty of large artwork, great smell and magic touch… Myself, I dont own a grammophone at the moment, but its a high priority when the money comes rolling (some day).
So for the future, I bet there is a physical trend with great products, and a non-ownership-listeners culture, directly on the web. Maybe the biggest loser in the future will be file downloading.
Here is a swedish article on the subject: http://www.svd.se/kulturnoje/nyheter/artikel_1565053.svd
