Imagine if music were like water – ubiquitous, free flowing, and a necessary part of our everyday lives. Instead of paying $20 for an album, or $0.99 per track, you could pay for unlimited monthly access to every imaginable form of media that existed. Songs, movies, TV shows, software, video games and more would be available to you wherever and whenever you wanted, all for a flat fee – similar to paying a water or electricity bill. Whether on your phone, your laptop, or your TV, music and media content would be readily available to you at the touch of a button, 24/7.In The Future of Music, published in 2006, authors David Kusek and Gerd Leonhard envision a world where legal access to music is no longer limited. Music becomes completely portable and untethered, and we are able to share and discover new music effortlessly. Digital music providers work tirelessly to make their content as accessible as possible, much in the same way that utility companies make their services constantly available. With the recent arrival of Spotify in the U.S., along with other subscription services like Rhapsody, MOG, and Rdio, it certainly seems like that reality may not be too far off. The rapid proliferation of illegal file-sharing and the steady decline in album sales over the past ten years does not spell the end of the music industry. In fact, it’s a clear sign that music’s rise in popularity is tied to technology’s growth. As a result, consumers are shunning the outdated medium of CDs and demanding easier, more convenient ways of accessing music.
The authors offer an intriguing and somewhat utopian scenario where artists, publishers, and record labels no longer restrict access to music by demanding such high content fees. Instead, they relinquish some control over their content for a smaller piece of a bigger pie. Imagine if internet users paid $4 per month as part of their internet bill for a “blanket license” to all music content? With an estimated 167 million people online in the U.S., the resulting pool of $668 million per month could be equally split between artists, publishers, labels, and songwriters to essentially cover licensing costs. While that theory may be wishful thinking, it could also prove to be one of the best alternatives in the long run – especially given some of the downward trends that the music industry has been facing.So, if you’re an avid music fan and listener, I would highly recommend picking up this book. At just under 200 pages, it’s an ideal summer read on the train or at the beach. The authors do an excellent job of highlighting the possibilities for change in the ways that we consume and think about music. Within just a few more years, the authors predict that we will see captivating technological shifts that will completely rewire the music industry as we know it.
