OpenMusicMedia #6 – Access vs Ownership (March 10th)

We’ve used a Kevin Kelly quote before as the basis for an OpenMusicMedia meetup. Back then it was his “1000 True Fans” hypothesis, now it’s his thoughts in ‘Better Than Owning‘ that we draw on:

Ownership is not as important as it once was. Very likely, in the near future, I won’t “own” any music, or books, or movies. Instead I will have immediate access to all music, all books, all movies using an always-on service, via a subscription fee or tax. I won’t buy – as in make a decision to own — any individual music or books because I can simply request to see or hear them on demand from the stream of ALL. I may pay for them in bulk but I won’t own them. The request to enjoy a work is thus separated from the more complicated choice of whether I want to “own” it. I can consume a movie, music or book without having to decide or follow up on ownership.

A company that subscribes to this vision is Spotify, recently launching their new streaming music service that gives listeners free and legal access to millions of tracks via their desktop client.  It’s a service that has proved popular amongst early adopters and is already changing the way that many people access music. So we’re very excited to have Spotify as our special guests on March 10th extending the discussion to some of the fundamental points that they believe in:

Access will more and more replace ownership

The URL is the new MP3

It’s not about one business model, its about a plethora.

To compete with Piracy, content and speed are key factors

So what is Spotify’s business model? Will it succeed? Can access be funded by advertising? Are there times when ownership is important? What are main benefits off the access model? And what are the implications for the music industry?

These are just some of the questions we’ll be asking each other. So come on down and join in the conversation! We’re expecting it to be very busy so make sure you get down early. We’ll be there from 6pm and we usually start upstairs at around 7pm-ish. Venue details below. Please RSVP at our new Facebook group

Tuesday, March 10th, 2009
6:00 PM – 11:00 PM

William IV

7 Shepherdess Walk
London, England N1 7QE

(Yahoo! Maps, Google Maps)

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