Will Cloud, iPad Apps, Music Limited, and the Service Sector Salvage The Music Industry

With the launch of the new music service from the major record companies, "Music Unlimited", and the popularity of the iPad from Apple which now boasts over 6,000 apps, and the intervention of "cloud" based IT networks, the music industry is evolving once again.

How soon will we see a difference in the falling revenue from music sales (physical and now digital) and live concerts? Only time will tell, but at least companies are becoming more aware of how important it is to stay on top of technology as it is developed. I can't say the same for most artists who still have the meandering dreams of glamour and fame, but most never realize this because they are not taking their "music careers serious enough and looking at it as a business "first".

The whole digital, connected, cloud, apps and services sector are at the heart of the evolving music market, if you are still stuck on archaic ways to deliver your music to the masses, then you need to get in the know of the evolving music business.

The digital sector and data in particular is the life blood of business and if you look at any other industry everything is automated and if the music industry is to move forward we are going to have to go down this route.

With MIDEm wrapping up it's 2011 convention in France, everyone is now talking about cloud based music services, and so many are unfamiliar with or are unaware what it truly means to the delivery system of information not only in the music business but business period.

With "cloud based" services like Music Unlimited offered up by the majors (SONY in partnership with EMI, UNIVERSAL and WEA), Music Anywhere by Britain's Carphone Warehouse, and a new upstart mSpot trying to secure licensing from the majors, will it be enough to compete with a fast-growing number of free and paying music streaming services that include Spotify, Pandora, Last.fm, Groove Shark and We7 that are already sharing a big chunk of consumer revenue globally through "ownership" of intellectual property? Or will the idea of cloud based services that are pushing "access" over "ownership" be the saving grace of the entire global industry? Only time will tell, especially since Nokia has already closed down its unlimited music service in most of the 33 markets in which it operated.

Cloud-based services differ from the music streaming services that download onto a computer by allowing users to house all their music on a remote server (or cloud) as well as giving them access to millions of tracks.

The cloud also acts as a "locker" for their own music collection so that users can access their music on different devices.
The big question mark is whether these services will bring the new revenue for the music industry, particularly after Nokia closed down its unlimited music service in most of the 33 markets in which it operated.

One potential new market is the auto industry, after Ford announced it would integrate the US-based Internet mobile radio streaming service, Pandora, into its new vehicles.

SonyCloud services are attracting a lot of attention at MIDEM this year, as they promise to help music lovers connect their music to a host of digital devices at home and on the move.




FROM WIKIPEDIA:

Cloud computing is location-independent computing, whereby shared servers provide resources, software, and data to computers and other devices on demand, as with the electricity grid.

Cloud computing is a natural evolution of the widespread adoption of virtualization, service-oriented architecture and utility computing. Details are abstracted from consumers, who no longer have need for expertise in, or control over, the technology infrastructure "in the cloud" that supports them.

Cloud computing describes a new supplement, consumption, and delivery model for IT services based on the Internet, and it typically involves over-the-Internet provision of dynamically scalable and often virtualized resources. It is a byproduct and consequence of the ease-of-access to remote computing sites provided by the Internet. This frequently takes the form of web-based tools or applications that users can access and use through a web browser as if it were a program installed locally on their own computer.

Most cloud computing infrastructures consist of services delivered through common centers and built on servers. Clouds often appear as single points of access for consumers' computing needs. Commercial offerings are generally expected to meet quality of service (QoS) requirements of customers, and typically include service level agreements (SLAs)

The key characteristic of cloud computing is that the computing is "in the cloud" i.e. the processing (and the related data) is not in a specified, known or static place(s). This is in contrast to a model in which the processing takes place in one or more specific servers that are known. All the other concepts mentioned are supplementary or complementary to this concept.

Generally, cloud computing customers do not own the physical infrastructure, instead avoiding capital expenditure by renting usage from a third-party provider. They consume resources as a service and pay only for resources that they use. Many cloud-computing offerings employ the utility computing model, which is analogous to how traditional utility services (such as electricity) are consumed, whereas others bill on a subscription basis.

With Cloud now taking precedence over delivery of information, e-mail blasting, and the older approaches to disseminating music to the masses will dissipate over time and all those choosing to remain in the fray of the innovations that technology presents to the "New Music Industry", will more than likely still have a tremendous opportunity to capitalize as the industry continues to evolve.