The History and Current State of Streaming Services

    
Chan-Olmsted, S., Wang, R., & Hwang, K.-H. (2020). Substitutability and complementarity of  broadcast radio and music streaming services: The millennial perspective. Mobile Media &   Communication, 8(2), 209–228. https://doi.org/10.1177/2050157919856647

    The basic definition of a streaming service reads it as, “ An online provider of entertainment that delivers content such as music and movies via an internet connection to the subscriber's computer. The sub-based services allow users to listen to copy right restricted music online that is otherwise unavailable. Some services require a subscription to avoid advertisements and other limitations such as blocked music. They typically incorporate other features that help you to find new music based on things you have previously listened too, and in recent days you can add friends on music streaming platforms and share playlists with them. Hearing these explanations seems very straightforward because we all are very immersed into the world of these services however, it was not always this easy. Music streaming services have been around since the late 1990’s and early 2000’s. It began with the rise of the MP3.com and people sound which are said to be the early versions of what Spotify and Apple Music have become today.

    MP3.com started as the first service that would allow musicians to upload their music, it also offered a service where you could upload music from a CD creating the kind of playlist idea that we have today. The launching of Pandora radio would be the beginning of the downfall to radio. It was released in 2005 and was an online radio station that allowed for people to listen to music based on genre with a thumbs up or thumbs down feature that is very closely related to today’s apple music and Spotify. For these reasons streaming services can be seen as an extension of the radio. Around 2010 is when streaming services began to displace the radio for having its same features, but with more choice and ability. Spotify released in 2008 and between 2008 and 2017 we saw the creation of Apple Music, the rebranding of YouTube music, the rise of SoundCloud and the beginning of streaming wars, otherwise known as current day streaming. Radio, however did attempt to push back against streaming services as, " It was suggested that mobile apps can expand broadcast radio’s delivery platforms while enhancing the interactivity, engagement, and communication of radio broadcasters with their audiences.The implementation of broadcast radio apps signals a strategic move that assumes the substitute role of music streaming over broadcast radio, the complementary value of broadcast radio apps for radio stations, and some degree of substitutability between broadcast radio apps and streaming services" (Chan-Olmsted 2020). The creation of apps  would end up being an attempt to match what the streaming services enable with regards to music and streaming. The current world of streaming services is best described as the streaming wars which is said to have begun in 2019 and is still going on and getting more intense today.

    The streaming wars involves all of the major streaming platforms fighting for your subscriptions daily which for television would be Hulu, Disney plus and Amazon prime vs apple music, Spotify, SoundCloud and YouTube for the music industry. The evolution of streaming services sees thinks like podcasts now becoming available on all services, another way these services are battling to try and gain subscribers. In 2020 streaming services had 33% of all audio listening where radio only had 15%, streaming services grew by 58% in 2021 meaning the gap between streaming services and traditional radio is only getting larger. In present day it has become more obvious than ever that streaming services were created as an extension of the radio offering more diversity, choice and possibility for evolution that has upheld this gap. In present day there are many more streaming services than people would assume, the main debate is usually Spotify or apple music because they are the most popular but there are a variety of different services available for streaming music. Technology is the main and driving impact of our society, and being able to control technology is what makes it so popular, explaining why the social control that streaming services offer is the reason radio is becoming less and less popular, excluding AM news. 

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