Spotify curbs music piracy – streaming is the future

Music piracy is a huge part of the Internet and, whether you think it’s a major problem as the record labels would have us believe or not, most countries are looking to crack down on it. A new survey suggests that Spotify reduces people’s reliance on illegal downloading of music. So, is streaming the future? Not only for music but for other forms of entertainment as well?

Music piracy, and piracy of all forms of media, has been around for decades in some form or another. But the Internet changed it from a niche activity into part of the mainstream, with people all over the world, of all ages, genders, races, and social groups, able to share music over the Web with each other. And more importantly, not to see anything wrong with doing so.

But we could be on the cusp of yet another evolution in terms of how music, movies, games etc. are consumed. There’s already a move away from physical media towards digital downloads, but maybe they’re soon to be outdated. Perhaps free and always-available streaming is the way to go.

Spotify is a free music streaming service in the U.K. and several countries in Europe. It allows a huge catalog of music to be streamed with just the occasional advert getting in the way. There’s also a premium service which for a monthly fee removes the ads and allows music to be streamed on the go via an iPhone app.

A recent survey of 2,310 British adults by moneysupermarket.com showed just what an effect Spotify is having on people’s online behavior. Twelve percent of those surveyed admitted to downloading music illegally in the last six months. Of those, 62 percent claim that using Spotify has meant they’ve cut down on illegal filesharing.

James Parker, broadband manager at moneysupermarket.com told TechWatch:

With Spotify joining the ranks of legal music sites, illegal downloading seems set to become much less popular. Streaming music for free or for a reasonable fee whilst on the move could spell the end for illegal downloading and could even send the CD the way of the mini-disc and cassette tape.

The music industry should take heed of these results and open up usage rights to streaming services such as Spotify. There may not be as much money in it as the outdated system of releasing albums on CD and charging over the odds for it, but consumers like it and are happy to either pay up or put up with adverts in order to use it.

I foresee a time when the idea of owning a physical copy of an album is seen as a thing of the past, where everything is consumed on a casual and temporary basis. And Spotify is the start of that revolution.

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