Thoughts On What Could Have Been For the Music Industry
According to an article from complex.com Bandcamp started to become a big thing in 2017. What I'm wondering is what would the music business look like now if Bandcamp was around in say, 2001? Sure the iTunes Store was started in 2003 but it was encumbered with DRM until 2009 when it was probably too late as Spotify was starting to become a thing even then.
The iPod launched in 2001 with a 5 GB model. Pair that with the ability to download albums in whatever digital format that you want (within reason) and there might have been something there. Basically what I'm wondering is if Bandcamp or something very similar was available would the music industry be in the same streaming controlled world we currently live in?
Also if Sony had been smarter (i.e. more open with the format) about SACDs could that have been a market? I really have no idea if DSD makes a difference but the larger storage capabilities and 5.1 support are differentiators from a regular CD. SACD is of course a tiny market these days and I don't think there was a way to make it as big as CDs were, however it probably could have been bigger.
I'm not sure if these thoughts make any sense I've just been wondering about this issue. Artists seem to be getting the short end of the stick whether or not the huge music companies make tons of money or not. The form in which they make this money such as physical media or streaming doesn't seem to matter either. They just come up with new ways to stop the money coming in from going to artists. Hopefully that changes at some point in the future! This is my day 96 post for #100daystooffload ----
This work by Thomas Lloyd is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0
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