An interesting column is posted on Ad-Supported Music Central titled ‘The Myth of Music Discovery’. Idolator also comments on music discovery in their posting ‘Do You Really Care What Your Friends (Or Some Dudes You Don’t Really Know) Have Been Listening To Lately?
At the Leadership Music Digital Summit yesterday there was a session on investing in new music opportunities with the idea that “The next big thing is going to be music discovery”. But Mark Cohen thinks differently, in fact he says:
“The first is that people don’t seek to discover new music – it just happens. They don’t listen to the radio, watch TV or talk to friends for the purpose of discovering new music. This is a byproduct of the intended object of the interaction. The Internet music discovery sites, even with their social networking skins, assume the primary object of interaction to be music discovery. This misunderstanding of consumer behavior will be fatal”.”The second conclusion I draw is that historically the number one source for music discovery – terrestrial radio – is a type of ad-supported music. The extent to which music discovery becomes a successful Internet business is wholly dependent on the success of streaming ad-supported music, as it is the on-line equivalent of terrestrial radio”.
Idolator proclaims, “putting sites that have music discovery as their primary goal in social-networking drag is ultimately a losing game”.
Of course, we believe the internet needs to be cleaned up. To much flow of information and amateur content makes it impossible for the the human mind to sift through the options. Our minds are built to organize and we need a better system that organizes. It’s time for a spring cleaning….
Yeah, I don’t see how radio maintains it’s historical position in the years ahead.
Totally agreed on the over-abundance of information these days… Matt at Burst Labs ranted a bit about this very topic last week.
Anyone notice who did the study? Arbitron and Edison Media — two companies keeping their lights on with money from radio.
Finding new music is all about being in love, not being love, being drunk, high, sober, buzzed, pissed off, pissed on, bored, excited, happy, sad, etc…PLUS a killer song that makes you remember where you were when you first heard it…no matter what speaker it comes from.
AFX, The Tuss, Brian Tregaskin, Patrick Tregaskin, Karen tregaskin, Venetian Snares, Mike Paradinas, and Richard D. james are the people worth looking into for new music. Music that has and will continue to stand the test of time. If you take the time to listen, really listen, you will be in awe. It takes some listening though
it seems easy to over look that at one time our favorite bands once were amateurs.
I will straight up not listen to broadcast radio anymore. Music “discovery” my butt. The stations around here (all ClearChannel) play the same set of songs over and over and over again. Three songs, 30 minutes of advertising, three more songs, 30 more minutes of advertising. And then there’s morning talk radio when I’m driving to work, on EVERY STATION.
In my car, I have my iPod docked. At home I use the cable music channels, or I go through iTunes or Bit Torrent to find new music. Although I’m considering Satellite Radio now, because cable doesn’t have enough variety.
Oh and for the record, when I find an mp3 I like i go out and buy the album on vinyl or CD if vinyl is not available.
Charles.
alice cooper says it best when he gives a reason why he liked janes addiction:
They were one of my favorite bands from that era because they were first band that was totally original. Nobody sounded like them.
-ask yourself this question the next time you are listening to the latest drivel you subscribe to
Nobody has commented on the trend that the graph shows. Discovering music on the internet is going up and has more than doubled while radio is going down and no longer is the major way in which people discover music compared to all the other way combined. This is a trend that will not stop in my opinion.
What’s also important to note is that, in terms of music discovery, terrestrial radio is bottom-up & the rest are top-down. Perhaps it’s not that people in general aren’t looking for new music, but that people who aren’t looking for new music listen to the radio. Maybe radio hasn’t lost the lion’s share of their listeners, but they have certainly lost the most important ones… the taste makers… the most extroverted, well-connected & influential 14% of their 2002 listeners (if that statistic is even accurate, which I seriously doubt). And, as the “pullers,” they’ll continue to grow that 14%. The folks who are the lifeblood of music consumption are no longer paying attention to radio (unless, of course the tape player in their Jeep pisses out).
Moreover, a large part of radio’s survival lies in playing artists that are broken through these other mediums, whether it’s American Idol contestants, the Hollywood Records kids, or internet bands like Panic! At the Disco.
Furthermore, mix discs & personal recommendations aren’t even factored in. I have friends who, on a regular basis, ask me to make them mixs (which I gladly do). I asked a friend last night “Have you heard I’m From Barcelona?” & her response was “Only a few tracks on a mix that Samantha gave me.” That sort of thing is a regular occurance these days. The mix is far, far, far more influential than newspapers. And why is it just newspapers & not general print media? That makes no sense… that’s another shrinking, but still very significant source of music discovery.
Half the people in the world still look to radio to “discover” new music. As much as the internet has grown in that area, most people still have crap stock speakers on there computers. Not the best way to enjoy music. Obviously, if you’re commenting here, I’m not talking about you. Everyone likes to hate on radio, it’s like those people that say they only watch PBS television. It is still the easiest way to listen to music. Just have a few different stations on your presets. Yeah, I know…I’m probably not cool enough for the room here, so I’m out.
Mark Cohen makes some excellent points here. And Jon, those are good counterpoints. I do think that only a small amount of people are really looking for new music but also that the ones that are actively looking will be the tastemakers. “Word of mouth” wasn’t on this graph.
“Of course, we believe the internet needs to be cleaned up. To much flow of information and amateur content makes it impossible for the the human mind to sift through the options. Our minds are built to organize and we need a better system that organizes. It’s time for a spring cleaning…”
What’re you gettin’ at here, KOAR? I think it’s FANTASTIC that there are so many options and avenues and pipelines online for new and exciting music — I’m for LESS cleaning up! No need for spring cleaning, thanks — I’m an adult and I’ll make my own choices and discoveries.
I completely agree with Stu. Saying that the internet needs to be cleaned up is basically like saying “People should have less opinions.” And if there was a “spring cleaning,” who is to decide what content stays & what content is destined for the landfill? And as such, who’s to say that koar would survive the cleaning? Few blogs, after all, can claim to be a bastion of professional journalism. The beauty of the internet is that it affords everyone the ability to rise from the muck, so long as there is demand. There would be no fluxblog, no stereogum, no perez hilton, no myspace, no facebook…
This contempt for & misunderstanding of the reasons why & the the way that the average joe consumes & creates media is a huge part of why the music industry misses the boat 99 times out of 100.
I completly disagree with the whole “spring Cleaning”. I think its incredible that the internet has so much to it. I dont think a person or even a group of people should be so selfish to other people’s likes and interests. Right now I’m down sizeing how much I listen to the radio because I feel that most of the music being played is genuinely a byproduct of the true musicians work. I know I work dang hard on my music and I think people should have the opportunity to discover great music which is NOT being portrayed on the radio. I find that some songs I hear on the radio I first I do not like, but after the radio plays it fifty times it gets stuck in my head,Because the continueously plays the same crap, thats why their ratings are up. I like to use the internet and my freinds to discover music I truely like, not music that I’m tricked into likeing.