Apple Is Going Up Against Market Leader Spotify, Jay Z's Tidal And Other Streaming Service Market

Many people know Taylor Swift as the fun and adorable semi-pop and semi-country singer, but many people did not expect her recent letter towards Apple. What spawned her unexpected outspoken response? Apple decided to give users of iTunes a three-month trial period for their newest streaming system. What was the catch? Well, for customers, there wasn’t one. We simply got three free months of great music that we chose. However, for musicians, Swift saw a large injustice.

The negotiations take place at a critical time: the music market has seen a massive shift towards streaming and away from downloads. U.S. revenue from downloads -- which iTunes dominates -- dropped 1 percent to $2.8 billion in 2013, while streaming music revenue from the likes of Pandora and Spotify soared 39 percent to $1.4 billion, according to the Recording Industry Association of America (CBS News/AP, 2014).

When wanting to listen to a song today, one no longer has to buy or download a physical copy. In today’s world, streaming has become one of the top ways of retrieving music content. This major change has led to a profound shift for the music industry and its artists. It has developed a continuous conflict that affects the way music is distributed and how artists make a living. Listeners stream music electronically through their computers, phones, cars, and more. Most of these streaming platforms allow for the content to be free, which directs to the question of whether music should be free or not. Streaming is a topic that has presented itself to be a valid issue on whether it ultimately hurts or helps artists and their careers. Streaming has both pros and cons, but in order to aim to figure a possible solution there needs to an examination of the history of the issue, a proper analysis of both sides, and evaluating its importance.

I believed the basic aim of these websites were to digitally respond reasonable to the technological changes of how music was conveyed to drive sales In a positive manner but musician ended up getting a small fraction of the income receive from streaming videos and audio songs as royalties. I can personally testify to this with my personal attitude towards many popular songs I downloaded for free online that I heard for the first time on radio. In his article published in the New York Times on January 2013, Ben Sisario commented on how online streaming has hurt the industry and partially reduced sales. According to him, Many consumers has greatly welcomed this system citing them as a smart way to save money since streaming saves them more money than buying the physical album. This will virtually hurt the artist survival unless they are engaged in an important side business for survival. ( Hartwig Masuch, chief executive officer of BMG rights

For years we’ve heard the record companies complain about Pandora, Spotify, even iTunes the now universal go-to place for music, but I never knew why they were complaining. We’ve

This case study about the Spotify business model allows a broader vision of what the digital music industry is. In a short time, many companies have developed and managed marked their territory in a highly competitive industry. The start-up Spotify has undergone a remarkable evolution in a financial point of view but also in terms of its popularity. Its various competitive benefits regarding the market leader and its respect for music labels have enabled the company to be renowned and to have a reputation in the real business. Today, five years after its creation, Spotify is certainly criticized in some aspects of

In the music industry, there are several methods of sharing content. Between playing live shows, producing physical records, and now, streaming over music streaming services, artists and musicians from around the world contribute to the entertainment industry each day; however, in light of today’s technological age, more and more content is being shared and consumed through the later. In 2015, music streaming services grew to 317 billion streams, doubling the record amount of streams from the year prior—a figure that is only projected to grow in the years to come (“Nielsen: Music Streams”, 2016). Any consumer with an Internet connection can access these services’ content with

Ordered lists of songs are as old as radio itself, but the idea of the playlist has gained particular currency in the past few years. As on-demand streaming services such as Spotify, Rdio, Rhapsody, Deezer,Google Play Music, YouTube Music Key, SoundCloud, Amazon Prime Music, Tidal, and now Apple Music have proliferated, each with vast and roughly similar music libraries, they’re now working to differentiate themselves by how well they help listeners sift through all that choice.

In 2000 the digital music was the next big thing in how consumers listen to music. The technological shift in music changed how the relationship is between the artists, recording companies, promoters and music stores on how they operate today. In the late 90’s and early 2000’s Peer-to-peer (P2P) networks allowed free exchange of music files with companies like Napster and Kazaa was a big step that allowed consumers to store large libraries of music. With the cost of hard drive space going down; it allowed for pocket-sized computers to store more information in a smaller space that open the door for apple to step in with the unveiling of the iPod and iTunes. These systems made it possible for storage and playback that gave consumers the

Since the iTunes music store was introduced on April 28, 2003, gross music sales have plummeted in the United States - from $11.8 billion in 2003 to $7.1 billion in 2012, according to the Recording Industry Association of America (Covert). Counterintuitively, during that time consumers were buying more music than ever. How is that possible? It 's because iTunes had made digital singles popular and was selling them cheap. This would change the music industry forever. In 2000, Americans bought 943 million CD albums (Covert), and digital sales didn’t even make a dent in comparison. But by 2007, those inexpensive singles overtook CDs by a wide margin, generating 819 million sales compared to just 500 million for the CD.

What do the changes in the marketplace mean for the music streaming industry? Is that even the right definition of the industry?

Introduction: Setting the trend for the future, the distribution and consumption of recorded music transformed dramatically with the launching of Apple’s iTunes in 2001. The proliferation of online music subscription services and other music sharing services exerted a great pressure on the conventional music distribution business model. Combined with this transformation, piracy of digital music had a profound impact on the whole industry. These worsening conditions in the market place for recorded music forced both established and upcoming new artists to experiment with new ways of selling their music.

Their service is offered to users as an alternative to the traditional pay-per-track services such as iTunes. The idea is to allow music consumers to listen to on-demand music from a “cloud” on the internet, instead of possessing the digitalized files on a computer.

The evolution of the music industry follows the familiar pattern of digitization. Innovation began with the introduction of the vinyl record, transitioned from the cassette tape to the compact disc and landed us in an era of digital downloads. The emergence of music streaming services like Spotify has progressed the industry even further, giving consumers the ability to access music on demand using download-free online platforms. Spotify faces criticism from artists as a result of the overlap of creativity and commerce. They argue that business activities corrupt creativity, transforming it into a tool for profitability rather than an outlet for expression. Artists insist that Spotify deters album sales, favors established artists and fails to support them financially. However, Spotify was created for consumers. It delivers an accessible alternative to purchasing and downloading music. The interplay between creativity and commerce is changing the nature of the music industry. Spotify has adapted to this change, providing a platform that supports both artists and consumers. Through analysis of the market, artist’s revenue, record labels and consumers, I will argue that artists should accept the evolution of the industry and support Spotify.

Companies like Apple, have decided that it is best to get in with the downloading business. However, an end to the illegal downloading conflict remains to be realized. The RIAA and associated artists continue to wage war against illegal downloaders while computer savvy audiences persist in sharing music files online every day. While it is undoubtedly true that downloading music is a crime, it remains to be proven that it is wrong. Without establishing this principle, most downloader's are likely to continue the activity. Even with new, inexpensive and available means of downloading files, they can still be shared for free online. The rift must be repaired between music lovers who feel that they have been taken advantage of in the past and recording companies and artists who worry about their future livelihood.