In the UK, listening to the radio (the "wireless") will always have a special place in people's heart. The Internet is bringing it's own radio revolution. With the thousands of streamed audio stations that one can find through Shoutcast Radio and Live365, it is often difficult not to find something of interest. However, one on-line radio site seems to stand out amongst these offerings -- this is LastFM -- a streamed radio that combines listening to music with social networking. It boasts 20 million users globally with over 1 million tracks to chose from. It allows users to custom-build their own radio station based on common tracks being listened to by other users. So, if you like song X and I like song X, then LastFM will recommend other music that you have in your playlist to me. This enables sharing of common music recommedations between individuals, thereby allowing one to extend their playlist. A concept that was started by Martin Stiksel in London (in 2002). LastFM was bought by CBS radio last year for US $280 million, "... the largest ever UK Web 2.0 acquisition", according to a BBC report. It is also possible to listen to LastFM through a Facebook application. An interesting issue that LastFM also raises is one of streaming audio vs. providing the ability for individuals to download music files. According to Becky Hodge, the music industry "... says that online piracy costs it profits ... Where other sectors that have been challenged by the internet - the news media, for example - have adapted their business models to suit the digital age, the record industry has, instead, gone cap in hand to the government, asking for the clock to be turned back, and for the nasty digital world to somehow be magicked away." According to her, ISP's in the UK have been asked by the government to send "nasty letters" to the alleged six million illicit file-sharers this summer. Becky Hodge points out the need for new business models that take into account the existence of illicit downloads. Interestingly, a topic extensively addressed in Professor Yochai Benkler's The Wealth of Networks -- "... as computers became more music-capable and digital networks became a ubiquitously available distribution medium, we saw the emergence of the present conflict over the regulation of cultural production--the law of copyright--between the twentieth-century, industrial model recording industry and the emerging amateur distribution systems coupled, at least according to its supporters, to a reemergence of decentralized, relation-based markets for professional performance artists." Benkler discusses the different business models that would enable sharing of digitally accessible content using "Creative Commons" licensing models. For instance, a music artist could give their music away for free, but make money through concerts. A wonderful discussion about new business models that could be propagated through a Web 2.0, social network oriented radio stations like LastFM.
image from http://www.tv13.net/
Posts
