The Ultimate Music Service and What I’d Pay For It
The following three items are core elements that would make a music service "ultimate" for me:
1) The service's music collection would have every album or single ever released in digital format
2) The service would let you stream online every track in it's collection at high quality and full length
3) The service would let you download every track in it's collection to your computer at high quality, full length and DRM-free digital format
Ok, now with a little explanation.
1) The service's music collection would have every album or single ever released in digital format
This is a must. Massive amounts of content is the reason I put up with Netflix's imperfections and have a monthly subscription.
2) The service would let you stream online every track in it's collection at high quality and full length
This is the primary way I listen to music nowadays. I stream music on websites like Imeem. And music blogs, like Tuftsmania (even though they'd rather I "right click, save as").
I find streaming to be much more convenient than downloading since it requires less clicking, transferring and storing.
3) The service would let you download every track in it's collection to your computer at high quality, full length and DRM-free digital format
When I'm not streaming music online I like to listen to music on my iPod and on the CD player in my car. The only way I can do either of these things is by having tracks in digital format on my computer's hard drive and than moving them to iPod or CD. (Note: Nowadays most of my CDs are burned, not bought.)
This is also a key item since you can't get the Internet everywhere. The batteries in your iPod and the electricity that powers your CD player both take you farther into the woods than Internet goes.
If you're wondering, "Why would a music service let you download every track they have?"
Why not? It's not like I'm going to set-up a business reselling the DRM-free tracks. And, if I did start selling them and my business got even somewhat popular I would be immediately shutdown, sued or asked to pay up.
The music industry is moving to DRM-free tracks and that combined with an era of p2p means that music will be passed around regardless. So, might as well provide unlimited downloading and make money doing it. (Note: Downloading is less convenient for me than streaming, so if I have a service that provides both unlimited streaming and downloading I probably wouldn't even bother downloading 99% of the music I listened to).
Ok, so what would I pay for the ultimate music service?
1) Nothing for unlimited streaming and downloading because it would be completely ad-supported
This seems like an easy business model to throw out their since we have so many ad-supported web services today. And, it's an obvious choice for me since I like free.
I understand that a completely ad-supported music service might be hard to do. But, if someone could figure out and do so in a highly profitable way that would be ideal.
2) Monthly subscription for unlimited, ad-free streaming and downloading
I have a monthly subscription to Netflix and their service offers far less than what my ideal music service would offer. I could definitely see myself paying for a monthly subscription if it included all three of my "ultimate" elements.
However, that depends on what the monthly price would be. If it's just an unnoticeable blip in my budget I'm game.
Just to give you an idea of what I might pay for massive amounts of content with a distribution system that I can put up with: I'm paying $13.99 for Netflix's "2 at-a-time Unlimited" plan. And, I think that Netflix's distribution system sucks.
3) Nothing for ad-supported, unlimited streaming but monthly subscription for unlimited downloading
This would have to be less than #2 since the unlimited streaming is ad-supported.
4) All other payment models don't work for me
This is because I don't pay to download individual albums or tracks from mp3 stores like iTunes.
If you made it this far you'll probably find both these posts from venture capitalist/blogger Fred Wilson highly interesting: "The Free Music Business" and "Something Important Is On The Horizon In The Music Business".
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