By now many of you have probably heard someone mention the Cloud in reference to the latest Web development trends. If not, the Cloud or Cloud Computing, according to Wikipedia, is a service that delivers common business applications online which are accessed from a web browser, while the software and data are stored on servers. If you use online file storage, Gmail, Facebook or Flickr pictures, you’re using the Cloud.
So you may be asking what does this all have to do with music? The answer is that the Cloud has and will continue to have dramatic effects on the production and distribution of music. According to a recent study titled Cloud Culture: The future of global cultural relations by Counterpoint, the think tank for the British Council, “the growth of the digital cloud will change both culture and creativity. Digital stores of data in the cloud, ubiquitous broadband, new search technologies, access through multiple devices – these should make more culture, more available than ever before to more people.” The study by Charles Leadbeater goes on to say that because of the cloud, “More people are listening to, making and playing more music then ever before. All that makes for faster evolution, with more rapid mutation and adaptation.”
From a cultural standpoint this is a great thing. As more people use music to express themselves, cultures will continue to evolve and flourish, finding new ways to distinguish their identity especially through music which also means more FANS! Charles does go on to say that “Cloud culture threatens to disrupt every aspect of the [music] industry’s value chain. The music industry is in a state of disarray, even while musical expression explodes. There has never been more music played, shared, created and listened to by so many people, in so many places.”
So no one can doubt that the Cloud has disrupted the music and entertainment industries. We’ve talked about the disruption by the way of free music on the GigLog quite a bit in the Free Content Debate and other posts. With every disruption however, there comes new opportunities to prosper and innovate. Far from being dead, we at Gigsby think that the music industry is ready to explode as more people are expressing themselves through music than ever before because the barriers to creating music are so low.
You can find the full CounterPoint report here: Cloud Culture: The future of global cultural relations
And for more information on the cloud check out this article on Hypebot titled Music Gets More Social As it Moves to the Cloud.
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Tags: Charles Leadbeater, Cloud Computing, Cloud Culture, CounterPoint, Free Content, Hypebot, Social Music, The Cloud