Streaming for Success: Social Media, the Voting Audience and the Rise of the Click, Listen and Run Consumer

Abstract

The focus of this chapter is the fourth theme described in the introductory chapter. Referring to Figure 4.1e concerning music sales in 2013 in the previous chapter, it is clear that music commodification processes have become contestable. Where once the majors’ retail sales and radio representatives worked on business strategies to sell more records, now relationships between Telcos, social networking sites and Internet users as music consumers exist. Music streaming service providers are aligned with Google Play and Apple rather than bricks and mortar traditional business models. Bricks ‘n’ mortar has been significantly substituted by clicks ‘n’ streaming. Physical units sold on the high street and as online units now compete with algorithms online, whether these relate to a voting system on Facebook for a music reality TV contest or Top 40 streaming via Spotify, for example. The obvious question that must be asked is: how can those who have established the lines of authority in pop music make sense of this temporary virtual economic space?