Your guide to streaming music online
It seems that more and more of us are streaming music these days. The good news for the industry is that millions of us are now doing it legally. The trend for people using legal sites is on the rise with sales booming. It's a great way to find your favourite sounds and listen to what's new without having to pay.
Top music streaming searches:
There are new players appearing all the time but currently some of the leading providers are Spotify, We7, Myspace Music and Last.fm. These sites all provide free tracks to music lovers and have huge online libraries of music that you can choose from while browsing. Spotify has over seven million songs with more added daily. So how do they make money?
Some, like We7, rely on selling adverts of between three to seven seconds in length. They are played before each song but this still doesn't make the companies much money and many struggle to break even. If you want to listen without the adverts you can pay a monthly fee of £9.99 known as Spotify premium. There is a waiting list to get the free version of Spotify. If you want to get access you are best getting an invite from a friend, that way you can dodge the waiting list.
We7 offers listeners advert free days. It's free to join you just need a password and username. They also offer advert free listening for a flat monthly fee but it's best to shop around to find the best deal for the monthly subscription, especially if you find the ads irritating.
Myspace music and Last.fm don't play adverts but do display them on their web pages while you listen. Again, you will need to join with some basic details but it's free.
The good news for the artists is that they do get paid. They will gain revenue via a set price for downloads, a payment for streamed tracks or a percentage of the subscription fee. That way you get to enjoy your music for nothing but without a guilty conscience. Although many of the companies do not make a lot of cash they view this as the future of the industry and hope in time revenues will improve.
