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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. -
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 favorites. This technology that analyzes music taste precedes many of the future music recommending algorithms on current streaming services. -
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 personalized 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. -
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 personalized 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. -
SPOTIFY
Spotify was launched to tackle the issues of music piracy, offering a seemingly infinite, catalog of music for audiences to listen to. Rather than get paid per download, artists would receive part of a royalty payment each time their song was streamed. Spotify's business model relied on driving revenue from 1) advertisements played on Spotify's free version, and 2) subscription fees incurred to access Spotify's ad-free Premium service. -
TIDAL
Jay-Z launches Tidal, positioning it as an ad-free, high-fidelity streaming-music subscription service priced starting at $10 per month. Similar to Dr. Dre's late Beats Music service, Tidal is branded with overwhelming star-studded support from big names such as Beyonce, Chris Martin of Coldplay, Alicia Keys, Nicki Minaj, and Kanye West. The service is specifically positioned as a company that doesn't provide any free option to their service, "built for artists by artists." -
APPLE MUSIC
Apple launched its Apple Music streaming service in hopes of competing with Spotify and bringing to life its acquisition of Beats Music. The launch signaled a major shift in the company's digital music business away from iTunes.
