With advancements in technology constantly in the pipeline, the world has come a long way in the last few years. Gone are the days of vinyl, film photography, tape decks, CD, VHS, polaroid cameras, DVD and board games…. or are they?
While we have music streaming websites such as Spotify dominating the music industry, and likewise Netflix taking a lot of consumers away from their traditional televisions, it seems that it is becoming fashionable to revel in the processes of our pastimes. More and more people are falling back in love with their film cameras, chasing the analogue systems over their digital counterparts. More people are sitting down with the warm crackle of a vinyl; a sound that was almost lost in the digital age. There are even new advancements in film photography so that photographers can develop their film on the go. There seems to be a certain romance with the physical connections with our music and photos.
While on the rise, it is still a very small market, and the majority of consumers will opt for the newer and more practical solutions. There is an upwards trend in paying for subscriptions for services like Netflix and Spotify, where instead of paying once for a DVD or a CD, people will pay a monthly fee for unlimited access to the services that website provides. This eliminates clutter around the house, makes media completely portable by putting everything in one place - inside a smart phone or computer device, and also gives users more access to content that before they would have had no exposure to.
With over 100 million people subscribed to a music streaming service worldwide, it is certainly a booming industry. Initially, the introduction of digital files in the music industry was problematic as music piracy became more common. While still very popular, the introduction of services like Spotify is beginning to tackle that problem. The drop in demand for the physical product is saving record companies a fortune in shipping, storage and production as effectively, all they need to do is to allow access to a digital file, which also combats issues such as pollution generated when moving vast amounts of a product as well as the reducing the plastic used to create CDs and CD sleeves.
Youtube poses a potential threat to paid streaming services as there are more consumers listening to music on youtube than through Apple and Spotify combined. While royalties are paid out through this service, the inflation of royalties has not kept up with the increase of streaming creating a a value gap. Money is obtained through advertising and distributed accordingly, instead of through a paid subscription.
Despite revenues being $195 billion for Spotify in 2015, the company doesn't produce a profit as the price of royalties increases. Spotify's sustainability is questionable, despite the fact it is still going strong. Still, in a rapidly developing environment, it's only a matter of time before everything changes again, and music streaming becomes, like film photography and vinyl, a thing of the past.