Saturday, January 14, 2012

Access to Music

 Access to music is changing.

Time was when you had to go where it was performed   Now virtually all of it is available where you are   Great for seniors.

Back then, music came on piano rolls, then records, then CDs, then flash drives, then your PC, and then your iPod.      Now, simply, the cloud.

Before, you would buy something physical, like an LP or CD and you would own it.   Then, with Apple's iTunes you could buy permanent access to just a track.   It would be kept on your PC or Mac.    And for now, anyway, you can have access without any of these, such as thru Spotify (beta) and other services now springing up.

So, marketing may be fundamentally changing.   Earlier, you would have bought a physical product.   Now you can buy the rights to hear.   You get access to huge sources of music either free or for a small regular fee.    Instead of buying a CD a month, you pay, in cash or advertising, for access to nearly any music during that time.

I hope it continues and extends to books, too.    Already, this wider access is working for TV.    And, on YouTube you can find nearly any music.