I’m really tired of owning music, just the other day I found my sister’s old CD collection. Aside from the monumental amount of space all those jewel cases took up they represented an existential inconvenience. Granted I’m on a disownership kick right now in search of an Aristotelian “freedom” but owning music is on some level dysfunctional. If anyone ever found those mixes I made back in middle school I’d probably be a little mortified. Just as everything else our tastes evolve as we grow and I’m not terribly eager to relive my white, privileged, I-hate-my-parents, heavy metal days. The music I would own today I likely won’t use in a number of years and so it seems logical to rent my music instead of buying it outright.
Which brings me (us) to the important crossroads of how to rent. Radio services like Pandora have always been my favorite as I’m a rather passive listener generally. I think Apple’s iRadio strategy is specifically aimed at people like me who will occasionally buy tracks so that they can listen to them on demand. It feels like a band-aid ultimately not solving the problem. Spotify has obviously become the 800 lbs gorilla in the streaming music room and YouTube is rumored to be entering the game soon but I’d like to see another player succeed: Rdio.
Partly for increased competition but also because Rdio has really focused on their design. Obviously the technology in delivering music is the most important part but as music is art I’d hope the listening experience was artful as well and Spotify leaves a lot to be desired, for me at least. To their credit, Spotify’s update to Holo theme on Android was a big step but I still prefer Rdio’s design (side note just in case someone from Rdio reads this, I’d like to see the + button flat/minimalist like the rest of the apps design). The problem as I see it for Rdio (and all other streaming players) is that licenses are expensive and thus they need continual subscriber growth and low churn; I suppose that’s true of most businesses.
Rdio lacks a 3rd party ecosystem and it’s putting them further and further behind Spotify. Perchance that’s an opportunity though for the underdogs. Here’s where I throw in my 2 cents- Rdio should provide free accounts to startups, especially engineering heavy ones. Not just normal accounts either but ones to test new features on and that come with an API. Music is damn near essential when working on a computer all day and having a free, aesthetically pleasing option would be very welcomed. In return, Rdio would have some of the most ambitious coders tinkering away on their platform building features for their own better experience.
A quid pro quo system with the startup scene could provide Rdio a nice little boost. While I’m waiting to go all in until I see Google’s offering at I/O this year I’m leaning heavily towards Rdio. While I have you let’s postulate about acquisitions because I love to. Spotify getting better international streaming rates, iRadio launching from Apple and Google likely launching a free streaming tier could really hurt the likes of Pandora more than Rdio. Who’s to say Rdio’s free tier doesn’t come in the form of them scooping up a crashing Pandora…
One streaming player I’ve conveniently left out is SoundCloud because I’m unsure of where they’re headed. I think they’re doing what Google Musician Hub promised and failed to do and that makes them very important to the future of music. Anyway, that is all. Happy Sunday.