In fact... just got those this from a music industry blast...
STREAMING IS IN FASHION WITH THE KIDS
The good news. American teens are using illegal P2P services less frequently. The bad news. They are buying fewer legal downloads too. Both those stats are possibly a sign that, as far as the youth market is concerned, we're already moving beyond the era of the MP3.
Once all music is available for streaming on-demand whenever you want it, why would you want to bother downloading the track itself, legally or otherwise? It's a trend that can only continue as access to the mobile internet becomes more prevalent and affordable, and the big streaming services expand to the mobile market, meaning only trips underground, in the air or in remote parts of the world would require music to be held on a local device.
The latest stats about US teenagers' digital music habits come from research firm NPD Group. It found that CD sales in this demographic continued to slide in 2008, by 26%, while download purchases also fell, by 13%. The number of tracks downloaded illegally was also down, by 6%. But use of online radio services was up 38% and use of streaming music via social networks was up 20%, so that about half of those interviewed said they accessed music by both kinds of streaming platforms.
Billboard report that the trends shown in the NPD report on US teens have been seen elsewhere too, in particular referencing a report on global web traffic by Ipoque which found that P2P usage was down and streaming services up across the board.
None of which is really surprising, of course, though it does reinforce the need to find workable business models for streaming services - audio and video - so that those media, web and start-up firms providing those services can make a profit while offering something web users want and will buy into, but at the same time ensuring artists and songwriters get suitable royalties to compensate for the inevitable impact such services have on physical and a-la-carte download sales, and that labels etc bring in enough revenues to recoup on past investments, invest in new talent and keep their shareholders happy.
I'm feeling optimistic this morning so am going to assume that business model exists. I'm less confident the internet - and the miles of copper wire much of it relies on - can actually cope with everyone choosing streaming over download-based music services. In terms of bandwidth efficiency, of course, the more content hosted locally the better.
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