About Music Streaming Apps

The transition from vinyl records to cassettes and CDs marked the beginning of the digital music movement. However, as individuals stream music instead of downloading it to their PCs, digital downloading is disappearing in favor of this (Miller, 2014). Various computer manufacturing companies are developing streaming applications that will raise the quality of entertainment that their customers experience. Similar to that, these programs are reasonably priced to buy. For instance, the Google Chromecast streaming media player costs $35 when combined with monthly Netflix and Hulu subscriptions (Rich, 2016). These transactions are often carried out through online platforms with the aim of entertainment being attained irrespective of the client’s location. This essay will discuss the impact of streaming apps to the entertainment industry.

Impact of Music Streaming Apps

To the people that are using portable music players, they can listen to a variety of music from any place. According to Miller (2012), an individual will have to connect the portable device to a streaming service and stream directly to their phones over the internet. It then helps in the process of saving costs and initiating the practices of flexibility in seeking entertainment. Publics with more sophisticated phones can make music beats using these apps. These sites further act as sites of aggression as an individual can compile an artist’s project on social networks, but cannot provide latest musical material understanding (Whiteley & Rambarran, 2016).

In some countries, these apps are considered as profitable business ventures with part of their shares offered for trading. In China, Tencent Music Entertainment Group wishes to sell an estimated 3% of its shares to strategic partners. According to Chen (2017), the company wants to hold on vital streaming rights in the country’s heated music industry. The Tecent Company wants to maintain its estimated 600 million subscribers as the Kugou, QQ, and Kuwo music apps are providing free-to-stream service.

Customers will always be kept updated regarding the music industry when they keep using these streaming apps. Clients who use Apple products are always updated by the Apple Music app when data is being refreshed. To the parties that have more space on their phones, they will have the ability to download music for offline listening (Lama, 2017). The continuous investments in the music industry have helped streaming apps attain recognition on various iOS app stores. The Tidal app has achieved the 27th position in the iOS app store and also viewed as the third highest grossing streaming app. According to Koetsier (2017), such success is attributed to the Supercell’s Clash of Clans game.

On the contrary, the streaming apps have a disadvantage to the user as there is a need for internet for the app’s efficient functioning. It is a significant limitation that leaves people receiving poor or no internet coverage to use the service. To the music artists, these apps have a direct impact on the income generation aspect after the release of a song. According to a publication by Roberts (2016), Taylor Swift was quoted stating that music apps like Spotify don't offer appreciation to the artist as it is a free tier app.

In conclusion, the act of streaming music has made entertainment an affordable service to the public. Additionally, the artists attain public recognition at a faster rate as their content can be watched from any location. Additionally, an extra service of downloading the content will generate income to the artist as the viewer will incur a cost if they would like to watch the song on an offline platform. Therefore, the trend in technology advancement has helped the music industry grow at a faster rate.

References

Chen, L. Y. (2017). Tencent Music Seeks Pre-IPO Funds at $10 Billion Value. Bloomberg Technology, 1-3.

Koetsier, J. (2017). Jay-Z's Much-Dissed Music Service Tidal Now Third In App Store Revenue For Music Apps. Forbes, 1-4.

Lama, R. (2017). How to transfer music to an iPhone without using iTunes. Gadgets Now, 1-4.

Miller, M. (2012). The ultimate digital music guide. Indianapolis: Que.

Miller, M. (2014). Top 100 Windows 8.1 apps. Indianapolis: Que.

Rich, J. R. (2016). My Digital Entertainment for Seniors (Covers movies, TV, music, books and more on your smartphone, tablet, or computer). New York: Que Publishing.

Roberts, R. (2016). Grading the streams: The pros and cons of five popular services, from Spotify to Tidal. Los Angeles Times, 1-5.

Whiteley, S., & Rambarran, S. (2016). The Oxford Handbook of Music and Virtuality. New York City: Oxford University Press.