dontdeviate.net

We had the dot.com crash of 94, then another in 01; but this only spurred the internet to bigger and greater things. Software developers at various universities amalgamated skill set and knowledge and gave us sites like Google, Youtube, Myspace, Facebook and even more recently Twitter.
Social media has been the buzzword for the last 3 years at least, but it has only truly captured one area of the market. Whatever happened to the technological revolution “Tomorrow’s World” foresaw back in the 80’s, and Asimov warned us all about?
Whilst we can use 000’s of different methods to share pictures, chat to our friends and ultimately share stories, it’s only been in the last year that sites like Spotify, Zattoo and lastFM have started to embrace another face of the web and technology as a whole.
Spotify: is a proprietary peer-to-peer streaming music program that allows instant listening to specific tracks or albums with almost no buffering delay.*
The model is simple, on the “no pay” version, your audio experience is interrupted approximately every 5/6 songs with an advert, somewhat like a radio advert. The main user interface doesn’t look too dissimilar to itunes, only banner and dynamic mpu’s are scattered strategically so you are never far away from the “people” allowing the site to continue running.
The premium version cut’s out the audio advertising, but your eyes are not spared – god forbid there being any chance of a media company not selling space on a plain background somewhere in this digital world.
LastFM: Better known through the iPhone of late, lastFM is a UK-based Internet radio and music community website, founded in 2002. It claims over 30 million active users based in more than 200 countries. On 30 May 2007, CBS Interactive acquired Last.fm for £140m ($280m USD). **
This model is more succinct but just as efficient. Playlists are created for you using advanced technology, and picking up on your favourite artists. An online community can view who you’ve tagged as your favourites and interact with your chosen songs leaving feedback etc.
Once again, advertising is displayed across the site, and ultimately giving LastFM its digital life blood! No audio interruptions, just literal music to your ears.
Zattoo: The most recent web revolution, expect to see more of it. “It’s the football game as you chat, the news as you email, and your favorite soap as you pay your bills. Zattoo is also TV when you don’t have a TV – it’s the channels you want, when you want, where you want.”***
That’s correct free internet TV, no more paying a TV license for programs that you watch on ITV or SKY! The most revolutionary aspect is, the lower the bandwidth, the better the streaming. The quality is very good and delayed slightly so buffering can take place efficiently.
The advertising model? Ssimple. A 30 second advert loads once you have chosen your TV channel, in the interim Zattoo begins buffering the feed. There are dynamic banners scattered in the TV guide bar and everytime you change channel, the same advert loads as of before.
So can any of these media be sustainable?
LastFM has been working at the model for the last 7 years and whilst it has sustained drops in the internet market place it does well to combat it. Producing the iPhone application and getting all the record companies on board as well as independents has been a stroke of genius. Content is king, and this is even more the case when you as a consumer are empowered to choose your free media whenever you want. The only irritating thing is; the music jump from Pink Floyd to Scissor Sisters can hurt the ears more than bargained for!
Spotify and Zattoo are slightly different however. Whilst the model gives you content for free like last FM, you get a choice of your viewing and audio experience. Granted the BBC iPlayer makes you choose the program you want when you want, but that’s only for the BBC; that means you need to download 4oD, Demand Five and itv catchup to see all your favourites, and sometimes at a cost. But let’s not confuse Zattoo with the aforementioned media, one is live streaming TV, the other’s are repeats.
And what about Spotify? Well like lastFM we have to consider that Spotify have managed to get all record companies on board, you can share playlists and ultimately choose whether you want audio adverts or not – at a cost.
The issue is however the following. How tolerant are you as a consumer to have your free music interrupted by some chap selling bikes? Every time you change channel, can you be bothered watching the same 30 second advert?
My theory is this. The more media becomes integrated on the web, it moves away from the mainstream at a rate of knots the captain of the titanic definitely couldn’t avoid!
To compensate you do need advertising to support the “free-ness” of the package, but what will be dependent is the tolerance of the audience. With standard media and channels, you can automatically tune out, with TV you can channel surf as much as you want until the adverts are over, and with the radio all you need to do is push one button.
Now ask yourself this question, can you be tolerant to get your TV and Music for free, or force the media to change, so it suits you at the risk of loosing the packages?
I know what my answer would be.

* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spotify
** http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LastFM
*** http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zattoo