Lala Shutdown: Twitter Top 20
Apple caused a Twitter storm today with the abrupt announcement that their newly acquired cloud-based music service “Lala is shutting down.” I won’t speculate today on what this may mean for the future of iTunes and the music industry. Instead, here’s our top ten reactions to the news—reader discretion is advised.
iTunes Is The 7-Eleven of Media
Mac computers rock, but I’m no apple addict. When I talk on my iPhone 3G I feel like my head is melting, and even though iTunes launches every time I sync, I’ve never purchased music on iTunes. (I have downloaded apps.) The bottom line of this microwavable disclaimer is that I’m not your average music consumer. Apple continues to create a major dependence on iTunes through their mobile products, and I don’t think that anything is going to “kill” iTunes without a war. iTunes is the 7-Eleven of media—
Social Rocks. Mobility Rolls. Music Trends 2009–2010.
Pandora is blowing music consumption off the grid. Myriad digital choices are sending audio junkies into sensory overload—music wants to be everywhere. The stage is lit—music has always been social, and the web continues to make it even more so. Communication is on the rise.
2009 Music Website Heat Map
Based on estimated traffic data from compete.com, this visualization compares November 2009 website visits for 27 popular, legal, music stream-or-download destinations. The heat map is scaled—larger map areas represent higher website traffic. Green indicates positive growth in 2009. Red indicates negative growth in 2009. Hold your mouse over each section for stats on each site.
Lala, Apple, Mobile Music, and Cloud-Based Streaming
Tweets about Apple acquiring Lala have been flooding Twitter for 3+ days now. A number of sources have provided news and analysis on the acquisition. Personally I think Apple aims to move iTunes to the web in an effort to control mobile cloud-based music streaming via iPhones and iPods. Mobility is paramount, and I think that buying Lala was a sound move for Apple.
On The Horizon For Google Music?
If you often use Google to lookup artists then you’ve no doubt already seen the new Google Music Search that includes playable audio right in the search results. The streaming audio is served via iLike or Lala. Links to other streaming music sites are shown as well—namely Rhapsody, Pandora, Imeem, and Lala.
