Our co-editor Erick Schonfeld had the chance yesterday to discuss the significance of MySpace Music and free, ad-supported music in general on WYNC’s Soundcheck, a program produced daily by New York Public Radio.
He was joined by Farhad Manjoo, a columnist for Slate, who took issue in particular with MySpace Music’s user interface. Erick argued that, regardless of its execution, the service represents a step in the right direction and marks an important shift toward ad-supported streaming. The music industries are watching this experiment, and if it turns out well, they will likely extend the free streaming model to other services.
Erick elaborates on how music is information and, as such, wants to be free. But that doesn’t mean there won’t be other ways to make money on it. The music streams may turn into marketing for digital downloads and higher-margin goods such as ringtones, concert tickets, T-shirts, and more. In the end, Manjoo pretty much agreed with Erick’s sentiments.
Listen below.
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I think referring to music as merely information is offensive to many creative artists.
How is it offensive? Sound is a form of information. So is the collection of digital bits that make up each song placed on the Web.
Artists are information brokers. What they do is present information in creative ways.
That’s a fairly provocative way to characterize music, Erick. And though perhaps technically reasonable as far as online distribution is concerned, it seems a bit shortsighted.
Are you really saying that all forms of creative expression – music, literature, dance, dramatic performance, etc. – are all no more than the bits that represent them when captured in digital format? Taking that a bit further, do you believe that all channels of distribution whether live performances or printed books should also be free to all?
Isn’t the real point here that artists may want the music they create to have monetary value, regardless of the distribution channel? And it’s therefore up to “the market” to determine what and how to pay for it?
While channels such iTunes and traditional CD’s explicitly value recorded music for sale, the value is “hidden” from consumers in streaming distribution models with an ad revenue model or where included with that monthly mobile device fee.
To bait the conversation a bit further, here are some definitions from dictionary.com:
Information:
http://dictiona...wse/information
Art:
http://dictiona....com/browse/art
I couldn’t agree more. Even worse, some people consider numbers to be information. As an amateur mathematician, I’m offended.
Typo: WYNC’s Soundcheck,