Musician Damon Krukowski wrote an article on how the music industry can actually learn from open source culture, and just why a decentralized network of fans and musicians should be in the driver’s seat.
In explaining how the ‘open source’ technology model could work in the music industry, Krukowski wrote, “Services like Spotify might continue to operate as they are, with their pittance of revenue sharing, but they would have to compete in an open market of free streaming by musicians and fans. What I am envisioning is something like what has developed for music posting via YouTube, but allowed to proliferate throughout the network, without corporate control over context or quality.”
While one wonders why he might suggest such a shift, his reason for doing so is because both musicians and fans are usually left out of the deals between rights holders and technology companies – giving musicians all the more reason to do their own thing with music streams.
However, with the existence of SoundCloud that is similar to Spotify, it looks like that day isn’t very far away when the music content available on it will result in it being acquired or an IPO being launched.
And even if it has been difficult so far to distribute music at a large scale without the necessity for funding, making investors and technology firms richer as a result, the potential for Krukowski’s approach is evident.
The potential for musicians to use a variety of tools and services so as to make their music available to everyone while also making money from it too.
However, while companies such as BandCamp, Topspin, Tomahawk and The Echo Nest are exploring these options, one must admit that there’s a long way to go.
