Coldplay have chosen to withhold licensing their new album 'Mylo Xyloto' to streaming services such as Spotify, Rdio and Rhapsody in a move that is seen by some as a backlash to the new unlimited streaming model.

Whilst Coldplay have their reasons and it would appear their label EMI are not best pleased, I feel that the decision to not stream the album on popular services hurts everyone; the band, label, and fans.

It's pointless boycotting these services as people will just download albums illegally for nothing instead.

Spotify need to pay artists more there's no doubt about that. But boycotting these services not only means artists and labels will miss out on some income, but they also alienate fans who use these services, some of whom are supporting legal music by paying a monthly subscription fee - having been encouraged to do so by 'the industry' who told them this was an acceptable alternative to a piracy.

Joe Blogs doesn't care about streaming royalty rates, if he's putting up with ads or paying a monthly subscription to use Spotify or a similar service, he's doing his bit against piracy as far as he's concerned. If an album is withheld from these services he'll just download illegally. And guess what? He won't feel guilty - he's 'doing his bit' by paying for his Spotify subscription anyway!

Is preventing these fans from listening to certain artists or albums really the way to thank them for stumping up cash and paying towards a potential new music industry model? Sure, the model isn't perfect and some people are strongly against unlimited streaming, especially whilst the income artists and labels receive is so low (we're talking points of pennies per play), but at least these people are contributing something instead of just pirating music.

Surely the sensible thing to do would be to make the Coldplay album available to paying subscribers of Spotify only? Thus only the who people are contributing to the collective pot of money get the reward and convenience of
listening on Spotify?

I like Coldplay and would listen to their album on Spotify (more than once), but I don't like them enough to go and buy their album without having listened to it a few times. I guess they'd rather not have any money, or give me the chance to make up my mind about buying their album than what take Spotify would give them.

Coldplay are not the only major artist not to play ball with streaming services, more and more big-name acts are boycotting streaming as well as some indie bands and underground metal bands who feel the cut they get compared to other artists is unfair.

The Arctic Monkeys approach with their latest album 'Suck It And See' was interesting - the band / label opted to release a five track sampler of the album on Spofity with the full album becoming available some months after the initial release. This at least allowed people to get a decent taste of the album and make their mind up about buying it (which I did - my first purchase of the band's music).

Spotify need to become a lot more transparent with what they pay artists and labels and they desperately need to convert more users to paid subscriptions, because for every major release that isn't available on their service there's another small nail in the coffin of this burgeoning new model.

James Clarke
www.replenishnewmedia.com
www.jamesdclarke.com
@jamesdclarke

Doing this doesn't deter people from ripping this audio and illegally downloading the tracks. It actually makes them more likely to go and download the music illegally in full (because it will have already leaked somewhere).

So instead of staying on your website / social profile where they may *actually* listen to the music, fall in love with it and then buy merch, tickets, or music (because you let them listen whilst they browsed) they'll go and download it elsewhere and have no need to come back to your website.

It's not 2001, it's 2011. Get a grip.

**UPDATE**

As @seaneeboy points out, Bandcamp have summed it up perfectly via @dubber!

This depresses me:

Today Syco Music (Simon Cowell's label which is part of Sony BMG) are celebrating holding the No.1 spot in three of the UK sales charts. They have the top 3 albums in the artist album chart with Leona Lewis, Shayne Ward and Westlife. They are also numbers 1 and 3 in in the DVD charts with the X Factor DVD and Shayne Ward longform DVD, and they have Leona Lewis now with a six week reign at No.1 in the singles chart in the UK. Leona Lewis' record breaking Spirit album sold a further 164,433 copies last week. Shayne Ward made a fantastic debut at no.2 with sales of 95,801 for the Breathless album, and Westlife had another massive sales week with 83,692 copies sold of Home. In the singles chart Leona Lewis achieved a sixth week at No.1 with Bleeding Love, which has now sold 662,225 copies, continually extending its lead as the year's biggest single. Further to this, SonyBMG had four of the top ten singles last week and in total 17 of the top 40. "This is an historic achievement for Syco and my congratulations go out to Leona, Shayne, Westlife and of course, Simon Cowell, Sonny Takhar and the whole Syco team," says Ged Doherty, Chairman and CEO, SonyBMG Music Entertainment UK & Ireland. "Their drive and ambition have once again delivered a great result for the entire company at the busiest time of the year."

I have nothing against these people personally, but what does it say about the state of the music industry and public at large when this is what's dominating the charts? Simon Cowell should not be single handedly bending over the UK music industry and having his way with it like he is. Where did all the good music go? Surely there's got to be something better than this out there? And if so, why are those artists not ruling the roost in such a way? Maybe the internet has finally created a sub-culture where all the real music will be consumed in a free digital format, whilst the throwaway tosh of 'Pop Rivals The Academy Factor' will continue to be bought in the form of annoying ringtones that are played loudly on the bus? Maybe the Roddy Woomble quote I posted back in October hit the nail on the head:

...it’s not true that people have stopped buying albums, it’s just that they’re still buying the shit ones. People that tend to be into good music tend also to be into downloading it, and therein lies the problem.

Where did all the good music go? My next post will try and answer this question - it's time for the annual 'Albums Of The Year' post!

An excerpt from Idlewild frontman Roddy Woomble's diary at www.idlewild.co.uk:

"It's true that the music industry has been brought down to it's proverbial knees in recent years, but it's not true that people have stopped buying albums, it's just that they're still buying the shit ones. People that tend to be into good music tend also to be into downloading it, and therein lies the problem."

I'm not sure I agree 100%, but he's got a point!

Little did Bob Dylan know back in January of 1964 when " The Times They Are A Changin' " was originally released how aptly those words would describe the state of the music industry (the industry that gave us Bob Dylan) over 40 years later. I've spent a lot of time during the last few weeks reading and trying to figure out how the music industry (in which I work) is changing. I've spent a fair amount of time wondering exactly what is going on...and about how I myself, along with many others are contributing to this change within the industry. There can't be a music lover alive who in recent years hasn't heard something about how music sales are plummeting the world over, and that the industry is placing the blame squarely at the foot of illegal downloaders. The rise of legal download sites such as the iTunes Music Store has helped the major labels cling on a little longer, but everyone knows that their days functioning as they do now are numbered. No longer does an unsigned artist need major label money to produce an album worth of music, it can be done in your bedroom for a fraction of the price of an established studio and still sound as good. The days of artists relying on labels to get their music 'out there' are fast become those of the past. The internet has become the ultimate music distribution tool, so powerful that nothing short of Armageddon can stop it. With all of these positives must come some negatives. The ease of distribution means that there's very little anyone can do to stop the free flow of music, whether it's been paid for or not - so where does this leave the music industry and the bands? Last week Radiohead joined the growing list of established artists (not forgetting all the less established ones) who chose to essentially give away their new album. In short, they are letting their fans choose how much they want to pay for the record, and the majority will most likely pay little or nothing. Does this mean that recorded music no longer has any value? And if so, how will labels and artists alike create revenue? Where will this multi-billion dollar industry make it's money in the future? Will concert ticket and merchandise prices continue to rocket? There are many different theories on how to 'save' the music industry - some claim the subscription method is the way to go (something I am personally in favour of) with everyone paying a flat monthly fee in order to download as much music as they can handle (similar to how we pay for cable television), others think that labels will insist of taking a cut of concert tickets and merchandise sales in order to regain the revenue lost from declining record sales (something artists will fight vigorously), and there has even been some absurd discussion of a mandatory music tax enforced by governments. Whatever the outcome is, one thing is for sure - the music industry as we know it is having to change fast, it has to change in order to survive. Who knows what will happen in the next 5 years, let alone the next 10 or 15, but one thing is for sure - it's a pretty exciting time to be involved and old Bob Dylan was right - the time they are a changin'! Reference articles: The Times Online: The Day The Music Industry Died Tech Crunch: The Inevitable March of Recorded Music Towards Free