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Internet Underground Music Archive (IUMA)
Internet Underground Music Archive (IUMA) launched as the first free online music archive of MP3 downloadable songs. It allowed unsigned musicians to share music, communicate with their audience, and distribute their music to fans while avoiding record labels. Because unsigned artists were looking more for exposure rather than sales, this free online archive was a great method of marketing their music. -
Napster
Napster was the name given to two music-focused online services. It was originally founded as a pioneering peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing Internet service that emphasised sharing digital audio files, typically audio songs, encoded in MP3 format. The company ran into legal difficulties over copyright infringement. It ceased operations and was eventually acquired by Roxio. -
Pandora
Pandora Radio launched as a rebranding effort for Music Genome Project with the goal of using algorithms and a complex song sorting program to create personalised radio stations based on listener's preferences. It was one of the early glimpses into the "freemium model," where users can listen for free with ads or pay $10 per month for uninterrupted streaming. -
Last.fm
Last.fm launched as a platform that uses a music recommender to build a detailed profile of each user’s musical taste after recording details of the tracks they listen. The site offers numerous social features and can recommend artists similar to the user's favourite. This technology that analyses music taste precedes many of the future music recommending algorithms on current streaming services. -
Spotify
Spotify was launched to tackle the issues of music piracy and ride the wave of new music technology platforms, offering a seemingly infinite, catalog of music for audiences to listen to. Rather than get paid by download, artists would receive a royalty payment for every play, which was funded by 1) advertisements played in Spotify's free version, and 2) Spotify's ad-free Premium subscription service. -
Soundcloud
Soundcloud launched as an online audio distribution platform that allows musicians to distribute their tracks for free. Adding a more social component similar to the music pages on Myspace, Soundcloud allowed artists and fans to communicate - artists could share music with fans with a simple upload of a file and fans could leave feedback on the tracks. -
Bandcamp
Bandcamp, an online music store, launched as a platform that allowed for smaller, independent, artists to share their music and directly sell to an audience on a personalised microsite. The microsites also offered artist information, social media links, and merchandising links. The site has been successfully used by a number of artists, including Amanda Palmer, who in 2010 gave up her record label and start selling on Bandcamp instead. -
TIDAL
Tidal (stylised as TIDAL) is a subscription-based music streaming service that combines lossless audio and high-definition music videos with exclusive content and special features on music. The service is maintained by the Norwegian company Aspiro AB. Included in Tidal's offerings are concert live-streams, ticket giveaways and other experiential events like listening parties and meet-and-greets with artists. -
Apple Music
Apple Music is a music and video streaming service developed by Apple Inc. Users select music to stream to their device on-demand, or they can listen to existing, curated playlists. The service also includes the Internet radio station Beats 1, that broadcasts live to over 100 countries 24 hours a day. The service was announced on June 8, 2015, and launched on June 30, in over 100 countries worldwide. New subscribers get a three-month free trial period before the service becomes paid-only.