Mobile Behavior: an Omnicom Group Company

iTunes changed how music was discovered. Will services like Spotify and We7 revolutionize the collection and sharing of music? The future appears to be all about anywhere access through streaming, not hoarding.

Up-and-coming Swedish music startup Spotify is gaining traction in the mobile space as it strikes deals with mobile networks and releases applications across multiple platforms. The site relies on advertising and a paid premium service to provide users with unlimited free music. This simple cloud-based access to music from anywhere through our phones is changing the game—and our behavior.

Ownership of sound has come a long way, ever since it became possible to record it. With the MP3, Kazaa, and iTunes, people began hoarding music and asking their friends, "how many gigabytes of music do you have?" With Rhapsody and now Spotify—as well as We7 and Grooveshark—this entire competition to own the most or best disappears. You already "own" all the music. Downloading it almost seems like a waste of time. In Spotify, every song you ever wanted is available with a simple search and without a download.

Earlier this summer Pitchfork's Eric Harvey discussed the social history of the MP3 and the nature of collecting music. He supports his thoughts by talking to Evan Eisenberg about music as a thing.

"What exactly happened when music became a thing?" He starts answering it by introducing us to Clarence, an eccentric music lover who has packed every nook and cranny of his suburban home with records. Though he obsessively amasses records, Clarence does not view himself as a "collector." He explains: "My idea originally…was to share my collection with everybody. You see, collectors--take collectors of oil paintings--they don't do that; they only share with themselves. Share it with everybody!"

This privileging of sharing and universal access over ownership has been trending over the past few years. In 2008 MTV's MX2 study pointed to an insight around consumer music listening behavior: Owning is more and more about timely access and less about physical possession. There is a difference between being able to physically and forever own music like in 1997, and being able to hear it when you want to, now, and in the moment. This is why mobile streaming is the future of music consumption.

The Pirate Bay is on its way out, literally. Illegal downloading has been a disruptive force that points towards an unmet need and now innovative startups like Spotify, We7 and Grooveshark are here to solve it. For hardcore fans who want to own a “piece” of an artist, there will still be collector’s editions, t-shirts and other merchandise. However, anywhere access through on-demand mobile streaming is where music is heading for one key reason—it’s what consumers want. We expect to see much more adoption of these services in the next year as we enter a 4G world…

Cheaper manufacturing is allowing designers to create a multitude of gadgets to fit our every need. On top of PCs, MP3 players, laptops and mobile phones, the netbook category is growing fast, and  rumors of an Apple tablet have been circulating for months now. While having all these gadgets is great, data needs to be managed in a seamless fashion across this increasingly fragmented inventory of screens. Sure, Flickr and YouTube do the 'cloud' with crowd-sourced media, but where are our options for syncing more personal, secure, and private files? We just won't settle for USB drives or floppy discs anymore.

Perhaps a pioneer in this area, Apple has been offering data synchronization with MobileMe since 2002. The service pushes contacts, calendars, and mail to iPhone, Mac, and PC. Also included is iDisk, which with the new iPhone application allows storing, sharing, and accessing of files across devices.

Many other companies are attempting to create a solution for managing personal data. Microsoft brings these features with the new Windows 7 and mobile specific 'My Phone' service. Naturally, Google is in the cloud with Docs, Chrome bookmark syncing, and Sync for Mobile. Smaller, but successful, startups in the space include Dropbox and Drop.io (both have apps that make files iPhone accessible). And now there is Best Buy's new mIQ, which seeks to brand this mobile trend. All make the transition from performing functions on one device to another smoother, as the data is available in either location. One hurdle to mass adoption seems to be the platform bias of some services, for example, Microsoft's 'My Phone' plays well only with phones running Windows Mobile 6.

It seems that many are trying to become the one service to rule all data, but could it be that it is too big a task? Truth is, our individual digital rituals and behaviors vary too much for one software solution to address them all. Focused development will be key. This is happening in the cloud-based music space, for example.  Being niche allows start-ups like Spotify, Lala, and Rhapsody to notice the most specific of our music listening habits and needs, then to design for them. With a fragmented market of gadgets, do we need a mass-market "vanilla" cloud for synchronized data, or a wide offering of apps for our variety of needs?

In any case, the proliferation of these cloud-based solutions points to an overarching need—the need to be seamless. Right now, it’s a frustration for users, but it will soon be an expectation.