Music in internet

The music industry was completely revolutioned by the internet. Now at days it is very common to find lyrics or listen to your favourite song on the internet. Everything is so accessible and easy to get. In this hub I try to talk and review how the internet is changing the music industry.

Some years ago, it was not that easy to know which ones were the 10 top songs in China, Egypt or Turkey. The music industry was managed as a physical product, the vinyl discs were difficult to get and distribute if the media was not backing up the demand of a particular band. Now it is different, with the access to information (and music in particular), the popularization of music grew exponentially.

The access to music was facilitated in every aspect. With the compression file formats, mainly mp3, and the growth of the band width, the exchange of music became a massive usage of the internet. This brought many good things but also became problematic. Right copy issues, music labels and peer to peer networks became a common topic in the newspapers. 

Before you had to buy a vinyl, run to the shop and get the new LP or album to get to know what was the new song of your favourtie band. Now you just need to press a button wherever you are, and you get the song or the complete album.

With the digital music players and the internet places to download music, the access to music became broader. Everyone is used to the parties where music is provided by the digital music player (mp3 player, ipod, etc) and speakers, that is all is needed. Hours of music with the perfect mix of diversity are ready to enjoy. However, the options are limited, you could only listen to the songs that were previously downloaded.

Music readily available to play from the internet (or stream), without downloading anything becaome the solution. Last.fm was one of the first web applications that allow you to have preferences, save lists, and classify by genres all your music. It also allowed to know more people with similar musical taste and share opinions, know about concerts and tours. It was a massive hit. However, due to legal matters, it became restricted and people are loosing interest. The new alternative seems to be spotify, another web application with a simpler interface, and maybe more limited options, is offering vast amounts of music to stream.