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The Future? Streaming Music To Iphone – GrooveShark and Spotify Test Drive…

// March 13th, 2010 // Music Marketing and promotion, Streaming To Mobile

When it comes to streaming music on a mobile device, I have been waiting
impatiently for a service with a great user interface, fast streaming, good sound quality….

At home, I usually crack open the laptop and use GrooveShark as my main
source of streaming music (the browser version free to use).

I have also tried out the Spotify desktop client, and by far prefer using
Grooveshark because I can simply log in to another computer and all
my playlists are right there, I also like the navigation elements.
No need to install a clunky client….

Anyway, I cant believe I’m two weeks late on this, but today I learn’t that Grooveshark
has its own Iphone app!!!!

So I decided to install both the Spotify and the Grooveshark app to give them a test drive.

Note: Spotify is officially approved by Apple, Grooveshark is not -
you can only install Grooveshark on your Iphone if it’s jailbroken!
[for some reason Apple wont approve them...   ??]

Both apps allow streaming over wifi and GPRS/Edge network..
They also both have offline capabilities – useful for going on the Tube/out of range.

Spotify cost = £9.99 ($15 approx) per month, not available everywhere..
Go here for details
Grooveshark cost = $3 per month! available everywhere (i think?)
Go here for details

Lets take a look at Grooveshark first:

This particular Iphone is jail broken, and uses something called Cydia.

On Grooveshark’s site, they have a notice about how to get it.

So once you have it installed, here’s what it looks like:

So from here you can search for tracks or look at your playlists
(one of my favorite features of Grooveshark).

Once you have performed a search, you get a screen with
all the tracks that it has found:

When you decide which song you want, if you tap the
blue arrow, this is what you will see next:

If you decide to make it available offline,
next time you open up Grooveshark, regardless of whether
you are online, you will be able to queue up that track.

In the settings, you choose how much of your disk space
you want to allocate to these offline tracks:

Groovesharks mobile app also has the “Radio” function
just like in the desktop/browser version.
When you turn it on, it suggests tracks and you can
also tell it whether you liked the recommendation or not..
(See the smiley face, sad face and the illuminated “radio button” in the pic)

Grooveshark freely admit that their app is new and
needs some time to iron out all the kinks, but its still
really good.

Where I am at the moment, the mobile internet is a little slow,
but depending on the track I chose, its generally pretty good.

Over wifi, its killer and the fact that I can access my playlists,
AND save music for offline use is great ( Spotify does all of this too…)

I love Grooveshark and my mobile world has just moved to a whole new dimension.
The jailbreak scenario is prob going to be an issue for many Iphone lovers,
who wont want to tamper with their beloved device.

For $3/month, to me its a no brainer.

Next up I tested out Spotify.

Here’s the search screen:

With search results:

Browsing songs was easier for me on the Spotify app,
than on Grooveshark and seems alot more simple…

When you chose the song you want, it starts to play:

Clicking the “i” in the top right corner brings up
this screen where you can build a playlist and also
have further play back options..

As far as I can tell, there’s no option to take a track offline
to the actual device like Groovesharks mobile app – you have
to do it from the Spotify desktop software and then it will be transferred
to your Iphone/Ipod touch.

Here’s the Spotify screen for accessing offline tracks:

Taking content offline was easy – I queued up alot of albums and
they were very soon available on my Iphone without
needing to be connected to the internet.

If I Had To Chose..

At the moment, I would go with Spotify because it feels
a little more robust and the songs loaded very quickly.
The price tag for Spotify is very high though,
and as Grooveshark’s mobile app finds it feet, I suspect that
I will go with that (especially at $3/month!).

All in all, I am very happy with just having the ability to stream
music to my Iphone.
The implications for the music business
are huge – especially because of the offline capability.

Bottom line – more opportunity to consume more music,
with no real barrier. Its interesting that Apple wont allow
Grooveshark in the App Store, and I’d love to know why??

So what about artists in all of this?

To me, it comes down to engagement.
If people will eventually be able to stream any track
to any device, the attention of the listener will be even harder
to maintain.

So the key to making money, selling tickets, merchandise, and various
bundles (including recorded music) is to work on developing a brand,
and on top of that, cultivating and maintaining attention.

(Checkout my Special Report on Engagement.)

Artists have always had to have this certain something that makes them
stand above the rest, and that could just be making and performing great music.

But its really about standing for something in the mind of the listener and

engaging with different “tribes” of people so that your music becomes part of
the fabric of this particular time in their life.

Final addendum:

I should mention that Grooveshark does have an Artist Promotion section
where you can upload your tracks and get them played next to similar tracks
so that you can direct your music to people who maybe predisposed to
liking them… see here.

Over and out.

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