Music in the Cloud

With the music industry in serious trouble, there are some interesting developments in using the 'cloud' as a vehicle for a new business model

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Apple has led the shift with iTunes as a successful music business. Now Amazon and Google are two big players that are offering a 'music in the cloud' service. However a new player has emerged with a variation of the cloud service to challenge the three big players. Spotify as been operating in Europe and has now launched in the USA. Spotify's big claim over the others is the offer of free music.

Explore the following websites:

http://www.apple.com/icloud/

http://www.apple.com/itunes/

http://music.google.com/about/

http://www.amazon.com/MP3-Music-Download/b?ie=UTF8&node=163856011

http://www.spotify.com/int/

Watch the following video:

http://youtu.be/ZrNhKcxBbZo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gng29RIhIl8

Read the news:

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/piracy-fears-cloud-apple-launch/story-e6frg6nf-1226071294051

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/world/online-jukebox-spotify-valued-at-1bn/story-e6frg90o-1226009844746

http://www.news.com.au/technology/first-amazon-now-google-takes-music-to-the-cloud/story-e6frfro0-1226053947338

http://www.marketingweek.co.uk/disciplines/digital/apple-set-to-unveil-cloud-music-service/3026936.article

Q1. What are some of the differences between the 'music in the cloud' offerings?

Q2. How can Spotify offer free music?

Q3. How do these services avoid the risk of 'piracy'?