Music is a complex media animal, dependent on so many other forms of media and technology to succeed. Many music fans restrict themselves to a certain style of music and are therefore not interested in anything outside of the genre; music stores like HMV tend to categorise their music by genre, and music streaming services like Spotify rely on your past choices in order to play new music that might be of interest to the listener. Artists have to work hard to obtain a wider audience to that of their genre, and increasingly marketing is dependent on alternative rather than traditional methods.
Web 2.0 applications work particularly well for the music industry and technology is moving very quickly.
SPOTIFY - It is used to stream music from major and independent labels very cheaply (it used to be free), however, some people have criticised the rates that they charge, saying that the artist does not get enough benefit from the track. Users used to have a free account that was supported by visual and radio style advertising, but now it is by paid subscription and premium subscriptions come without advertising. Because Spotify is integrated with Facebook and other social media, it encourages music sharing which is a great form of promotion. Other music streaming sites include WiMP, Grooveshark, Pandora and MOG, they are increasingly popular and most have a smart phone application.
