Has The End Of Digital Downloads Started?

It’s a topic that’s been going around recently and has certainly been fuelled by an article in Digital Music News where it’s claimed Apple will terminate all downloads within 2 years (there was a great response from a label executive that’s well worth a read).  As you can see the rise and fall of downloads produces a clear pattern of sales trend but wether they will cancel downloads altogether is another matter.

Courtesy of Digital Music News

As this pattern grow there’s an obviously a move toward strengthening streaming, which has had amazing growth in the wider consumer market in the last few years and is being viewed as the golden egg for major and indie labels. It’s likely streaming will have a similar impact on downloads that downloads did to physical a few years back. The music cycle continues.

But what does this mean for DJ’s? Well, Serato has already partnered up with Pulselocker to incorporate streaming (online and offline) into your sets offering over 44 million songs and it won’t be long before other DJ platforms follow, but will this suit everyone?

Our main thought initially is no. It’s all still too new to really evaluate properly, but one thing’s for sure it’s going to play a part in our future weather we like it or not.   The main concern here is this will be driven by major streaming services like Apple Music & Spotify and major record labels with little thought or concern for the digital DJ, their focus will be on the wider consumer market and consumption trends. As a fan of iTunes though I’m become increasingly weary of their influence on my collection, playlists being emptied, songs being replaced etc.  I’d certainly not want anyone coming into my house to rearrange or replace any of my record collection so why should anyone do the same with my digital one?

The future for digital DJ’s (and indie labels) is pushing more toward streaming services and unless we get prepared soon there’s a danger we’ll all get lost in it – or go back to good old trusty vinyl (I’m game!).  I’m certainly not saying sign up to Spotify and put all your eggs in there but do stay on top of whats going on around you, we’ll be staying on top of this as much as we can to pick through the developments and analyse how this will affect the DJ world.

We’d love to hear from you on this topic, are you a DJ who’s already using a streaming service? Do you already DJ from a laptop with no connection to the outside world?  Has any of this recent news made you want to change the way you DJ?  Please let us know.