Most Online Listeners Stream Classic Rock

Here's something that's definitely unexpected. According to a Wakefield Research survey targeting cloud computing literacy that asked which music from the cloud they listen to, most chose both classic and modern rock legends. The top 10 artists mentioned were:

1. The Beatles

2. The Rolling Stones

3. Michael Jackson (okay, I agree, he's more r&b)

4. Bon Jovi

5. Pink Floyd

6. Bruce Springsteen

7. Eminem (definitely not rock)

8. Maroon 5 (their rock credentials are suspect)

9. Led Zeppelin

10. Coldplay

There are a few other things the survey found:

• 5% of those who think they're not using the cloud, actually are
• 59% believe the workplace of the future will exist entirely in the cloud
• 33% agree that using the cloud allows them to interact with people that they rather not in person
• 68% recognize the economic benefits of the cloud
• 14% have pretended to know what the cloud was during a job interview.

The survey just goes to show that the cloud has permeated our everyday lives to the point that we're really not aware that we're interacting with it. Let's hope that this connected remains forever intact.

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Google Music Not Cutting It So Far

When Google introduced it's music cloud service November, the general consensus was that it was a can't miss project. After all, there were already 200 million activated Android phone and tablet users, and if it only converted 10 percent of their captured market, that would mean 20 million users.

Now word is beginning to leak out of every corner of the music business world that everyone is concerned about Google Music's very slow adoption rate. With Google being one of the 800 pound gorillas in the cloud music room, that's the last thing that anyone expected.

What's more, while Google does have licenses with 3 of the major labels, it has yet to obtain a license from Warner Bros to be able to offer their catalog, and it's unlikely that they will if things continue to go as it is now.

But don't count Google Music out just yet. Two weeks ago The Wall Street Journal reported that Google is building a wireless home entertainment system that will stream music throughout the home. Even if this were a big hit, and I can't see it making a huge difference for Google Music, but it may be just enough to turn the tide from one that's perceived as failing to one that's a borderline success.

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Help support this blog. Any purchases made through our Amazon links help support this website with no cost to you.

You should follow me on Twitter for daily news and updates on production and the music business.

Check out my Big Picture blog for discussion on common music, engineering and production tips and tricks.

A Cloud Service Comparison

Now that iCloud has been launched, we can now take a good hard look at what it offers, as well as some alternatives. Below is a chart that looks at the three major cloud services for data storage only.

Below is a comparison chart for the three major cloud music services.

As you can see, in both data and music storage, iCloud looks like it's a pretty good deal. iTunes match is particularly cool in that it automatically transfer the songs you bought on iTunes to your cloud partition, as well as any other songs it can identify. That feature hasn't launched yet, but we're told it should be available soon.

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Help support this blog. Any purchases made through our Amazon links help support this website with no cost to you.

You should follow me on Twitter for daily news and updates on production and the music business.

Check out my Big Picture blog for discussion on common music, engineering and production tips and tricks.

5 Things You Should Know About Cloud Music Services

Now that both Amazon and Google have launched their cloud music services, we're just waiting for Apple to complete the triumvirate with their imminent launch. In case you're not clear, a cloud music service (sometimes called a "music locker") stores your music on an online server then delivers it to any of your music playback devices. Before you choose a service though, here are a few facts you should know.

1. Why is a cloud music service so cool? Because you won't fill up half your hard drive with only music if it's stored online for one thing. You'll be able to access your music from any device that connects to the Internet, so you're not restricted to only the device that has your music loaded on it.

2. You have to manually upload your music on both Google Music and Amazon Cloud Drive. Because both Google and Amazon didn't get permission from the record labels, for right now at least you have to manually upload your entire library if you want access to it. That could take hours and hours depending upon how large the library and the speed of your Internet connection.

3. But you won't need to upload everything on Apple's service. That's the whole key about doing a deal with the record labels; if the service sees that you've already paid for a song or sees the song on your hard drive, it automatically loads a copy into your storage locker without you having to upload it. That means that you're uploading time can theoretically be a few minutes instead of hours and hours.

4. Apple also has a strategic advantage by doing the deals with the labels. If and when Amazon and/or Google decide that they really should have these deals in place, it's going to cost them a lot more to get the deal done. Apple has already set the deal precedent with their label agreements so they won't be getting better for the other two as a result. Any additional costs will get passed on the to consumer, so the Apple service may end up being cheaper than the other two in the long run.

5. Apple's service has another cool feature. Reportedly it pre-caches of a portion of the each song in your library on your player so that as soon as you choose a song, it instantly plays without having to wait to communicate with the cloud first unlike the other services.

The Apple announcement regarding the release of their cloud service is supposed to be any day now, and until that time, we won't have a real head-to-head comparison of services to look at. That said, cloud music is here to stay and it's just a matter of time before it becomes widely adopted.
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Help support this blog. Any purchases made through our Amazon links help support this website with no cost to you.

You should follow me on Twitter for daily news and updates on production and the music business.

Check out my Big Picture blog for daily discussion of music, recording, and production tips and tricks.