• Nicholas DiChiara, 8 years ago

    Hey Tobias, Thanks so much for doing this AMA, I really appreciate it as do others I'm sure.

    To give you context, I’m a design student doing my Senior thesis on the digital Music Industry (like Spotify, Pandora, Rdio, Apple Music. etc.) so I don't mean to pry. I know these services have shrunk the number of paid album sales drastically, and every artist has handled this blow differently. Do you think there is a better way services (like Spotify) could better serve the artist? Or do you think there is a better way for artist to embrace these new services?

    PS — Great job on Semplice, can't wait to go live with my site.

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    • Pankaj VermaPankaj Verma, 8 years ago

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    • Tobias van Schneider, 8 years ago

      Hi Nicholas, nice to meet you!

      Thats a great question and I'm not even sure if I'm qualified enough to answer it. But in general, you are right.

      I wouldn't say it's a blow, it's just a shift and some artists are part of the shift, and some protest against it. We all know that this is not a question about if streaming services are the future or not. I mean we all see that it is the future.

      The shift hasn't been introduced by any of the current streaming services, but mostly because the fact that we now have the magical Internet as an enabler. A lot of industries are affected as the access model to content is changing.

      The time during these shifts is often the most painful, because most industries (such as the music industry) run on outdated models that have been protected for many years.

      The question you're really asking is: Can artists do better by embracing the Internet? Yes they can, and we see many great examples who already do it very well.

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