Since the advent of file sharing sites, the business model of the music industry (as was) has been doomed. Much has been written about the slow and steady decline of the major labels, but are there are a few shoots of recovery perhaps, with increased gig going? I hope so.
I'm a great fan of free music. But I am also a great fan of business models (or, even better - friends) who can recommend/give music to me which I'll probably like and can access pretty much straight away. And a big fan of gigs.
The way things are going, "recorded" music is increasingly free at the point of consumption (though I think the Apple and Nokia subscription models will work well) but nothing can replace the experience of seeing music live. So gigs will be an increasingly big revenue-stream for bands/promoters/labels from Madonna to your mates from down the road.
What the major labels, a handful of pluggers, a few broadcasters and print media have traditionally done very well is build hype around a pretty small number of bands. Clearly the internet has changed all that, and social media - sharing song recommendations with complete strangers - now has an ever-important part in terms of recruiting listeners who become fans, and then become gig goers.
I recently discovered Songkick, which makes that process one step eaier. It's basicaly like last.fm for gigs. It learns your playlists, and tells you who is playing in your area. It points you towards ticket-sellers (so presumably has a financial kick-back). But it is so much better than any of the ticket sellers. If I was a VC I'd invest in Songkick. Well worth a look at.
Other music sites/apps which still get my attention:
- Last.fm - I've been a huge fan for years. (Do come and say hi if you are too), though never got into the US-only Pandora
- MySpace - it's not dead. It's still a fantastic way to find a few musical gems
- Audiohijack - once you've found those musical gems, audiohijack is one of the best bits of software out there to record stuff from MySpace (or anywhere actually)
- Nutsie - have already posted about this. Get your own itunes playlists streamed to any device, e.g. a mobile phone
- iLike - I got bored of it
- iTunes - I haven't yet found anything I prefer, especially now it's DRM free
- Hypemachine - whatever you want to hear, whenever you want to hear it. And you can buy individual tracks afterwards too
- Bestival and Camp Bestival - the best festival organisers on the planet?
Any I've missed? I'm all ears (if you'll pardon the pun)
