I have always been a believer in the power of online music subscription services. And, I have eaten my own dog food in this regard, consuming them voraciously from their very beginning -- first, with my own company's service, pioneering online music company
Musicmatch (way back in the day in 2003 -- in the online media world, that IS way back in the day). After Yahoo! acquired
Musicmatch in 2004 -- and then unceremoniously killed the
Musicmatch service -- I had no choice but to switch to Yahoo Music's branded subscription service. But Yahoo! subsequently unceremoniously killed its own creation, so I was forced to switch again, this time to Rhapsody -- which I still use. I also pay for -- and regularly use -- Pandora. And then there are online music subscription stalwarts Napster, Slacker and a host of others.
But, none of them have really caught on in a big way with the mass public because everyone, to date, has been obsessed with Apple, iTunes, and its pay-for-download (and no subscription choice) consumption model. To date, that is ...
... is that now changing?
Certainly investors must think so, as a slew of new online music subscription services are joining the already-crowded fray,
including Euro-based service Spotify and now MOG. Why, even grand-daddy
MySpace Music is joining the subscription craze.
Maybe there really is gold in them thar ears ... I mean, hills.
(But there certainly will be a lot of road-kill along the way ...)
