A non-exhaustive list of the entities aiming to disrupt music streaming
I am aware of quite a few efforts to “build a truly indie-first music service”:
- Mirlo
- Ampwall
- Sonica
- Campfire
- Subvert
- Audius
- Ever (whose website I can no longer find, so maybe they folded?)
- At least 3 different blockchain/web3 things, such as Bitsong
- A wholly different thing the Transcendant guy is exploring
- Likely others
Plus say what you will about Bandcamp, they’re still building things.
While I don’t think any of these in particular will “win” (or even make a dent in streaming on their own), I love that innovation is happening.
There are options now. This is good.
Try them, help them out, give them feedback, use the one you love enough to point fans to instead of a streaming service.
Don’t think of them as saviors. Don’t expect any one to win or meaningfully change consumer behavior from the streaming model of today. That’s a massive task. I see it as a gradual and fragmented shift, one where they enable the artist to shift behavior themselves. Innovation often happens slowly and without most people noticing.
As an aside, it’s fascinating to me how grossly pervasive the idea of streaming is outside of the small independent music community I’m in. I tried Googling “best web services for independent music artists” and all I got were lists of the 7-8 streaming services everyone already knows.
