Music Everywhere

Despite numerous streaming music services available at the touch of a button, music is still too fragmented.

Laying in bed last night, I desperately wanted a simple way to listen to Ryan Adams’s new self-titled album premiering on NPR First Listen on my Sonos Play:1. Every scenario I imagined required too much work for that time of night.

Having the possibility of streaming any audio content I want through a connected speaker is so close, but still so far. Off the top of my head I can think a few different things I’d love to be an service available through Sonos’s app.

• NPR First Listen (Weekly streams of album not yet released)
• NPR One (Personally tailored on-demand radio)
• Whyd (Social network dedicated to music)
• Thunderspace (iOS app with stereoscopic recorded thunderstorms)

AirPlay or Bluetooth aren’t really the answer. Those solutions are band-aids for when other better solutions aren’t available.

Not being able to stream a certain album in a specific circumstance only further serves to remind me that I pay for multiple streaming services because of a few minor differences. Despite the illusion of ubiquitous music, on-demand choice is still very much lacking.

This isn’t the future of music, it’s a alternate past that still ends in heartache.

Music has become more freely available, sure, but it’s also become heavily siloed in the process. Whether the answer is some cross platform support or specific products undeniably dominating their respective domain, the recorded music industry needs to push further into becoming more universally accessible.

The answer is not Garth Brooks making his own music service called GhostTunes.