Cloud computing offers the opportunity for a new era for the music industry

Mike McNesby

The music industry has seen significant changes over the past fifty to sixty years. The gradual rise of music superstars can undoubtedly be traced to Elvis Presley and other famous musicians can attribute the continual commercial popularity of music to the 1950′s. In those days, music was available either in the form of radio broadcasts, or buy purchasing a vinyl record for one’s own listening purposes. As the years passed, musical technology was transformed to the cassette tape, then the compact disc, and eventually to a digital format available online such as iTunes or website-specific downloads; in this way, music can not only be bought physically, but also through immaterial means. In the past few years, the rise of a new technology called “cloud computing” has advanced the possibilities of the music industry even more. Cloud computing is actually a concept that takes form in the shape of shared servers throughout the Internet; these shared servers then provide the requested resources and data when called upon from users. It is essentially a form of information demand, much like people using electricity from an electrical grid, a shared source. The potential for cloud computing management is bright, since it will reduce service and information technology needs for many businesses and companies. It will also undoubtedly change the basic business structure of the music industry. The old model of professional music was already sliding downward with the advent of iTunes and the ability to buy music online. With the development of cloud computing, the music industry as we know it will cease to exist since there is so much technology that is easily accessible straight to the hands of the musician. It is possible to think that most music will be available on these “cloud networks”; one would not have to own a physical work of the music, they would only have to use the music in the same sense as borrowing from a library. This creates an opportunity for musicians to come up with new and creative ways to making money with their music by utilizing this technology.

With the swift rise of cloud computing throughout the world, it is possible that a new era of the music industry will come to fruition within several years.

Frank Zappa explains the decline and fall of the music business and comes to a surprising conclusion that the older generation was better for pushing new wave music that they didn’t understand than the supposedly younger/hipper music executives.