The Future of Music Is In The Clouds

The music industry is hell-bent on selling shiny little plastic discs rather than innovating in a space sorely in need of modernization. The litigation campaign so clumsily wielded by the geniuses behind the Recording Industry Association of America has done absolutely nothing to deter the rampant music piracy running amok through society today. If they truly desire to remain relevant, rather than focusing their efforts on the misleading “education campaign” the recording industry should be concentrating on the one area destined to be the future of music – cloud computing.

Imagine a world with limitless access to music, no matter where you are or what device you are using. Whether on your home computer, your home stereo, in your car or riding the train with only your mobile phone, the music you desire is only a few quick keystrokes away. Whatever music you want to listen to you can, and will, listen to whenever you desire.

There is no need to be concerned with the amount of bandwidth at your disposal. Nor will there be a need to futz around with file formats to ensure the music is compatible with your device. No MP3’s, no WMA’s, no MP4’s – music consumption is as common as electricity or running water and no longer requires a degree in astrophysics to play your music.

This is the future of music, where consumers are no longer concerned with the devices, bandwidth, compatibility or the myriad of licensing rules and restrictions put in place by the music industry. Shrink-wrap legal disclaimers have all but disappeared because the industry is no longer focused on selling little shiny discs.

This is the future of music where the recording industry transforms music in to a utility driving revenue to the artists via unknown and never before seen business models, ultimately allowing artists to directly connect to their fans and see far greater returns on their investments than they ever dreamt possible.

This is the future of music where bandwidth restrictions are not a concern because every device, whether mobile or stationary, is fully capable of accessing the very music you desire, in whatever manner you desire.

Everything. Just. Works.

Little shiny discs are no longer required nor are 60GB iPods filled with 50GB of music hardly ever listened to. Instead, music is instantaneously streamed on-demand from the cloud. The files exist on some big servers in the sky, but ultimately consumers never think about this aspect of music because in the future of music it’s meaningless.

You want it? The recording industry has it. Simple, right?

Imagine having every single item in the recording industry’s catalog (from their inception until now) available for listening on a whim. The files would be mere fingertips away from your ears. There would be no need to seek those offbeat music shops to search for albums no longer for sale – digital files exist in the cloud and are easily locatable. Finding that rare 12” single is complex no more.

Consumers will forget there was ever a distinction between owning a little plastic disc or purchasing a license to play the music they enjoy. All the data and files will exist somewhere in the cloud on the great big music servers in the sky – but that somewhere will be irrelevant because access to all the music the world has ever heard is easily obtained through everyday consumer devices like radios, computers, home stereos, portable music players and mobile phones.

Devices are free of DRM – the future of music has seen a major paradigm shift. The old guard has been replaced with the new, younger, more connected generation of business leaders who understand the industry’s real future.

Finding new music is even easier than it is today thanks to highly tuned recommendation engines based on yours and your friends music preferences – similar to what last.fm and Pandora are already doing, but to a far superior, more accurate degree. When a new band releases new music matching your musical tastes, it is automatically recommended – no need to manually locate new music.

This is the future of music, whether the recording industry is onboard or not, whether you want it or not. The natural progression from vinyl to CD to digital to cloud-based music is right around the corner, ready to simplify and increase our music consumption exponentially.

This is the future of music – does it electrify your eardrums and stimulate your senses?