Our Virtual Panel Looks Back on 2014 | Dave Cool of Bandzoogle
Dave Cool, Director of Artist Relations at Banzoogle joins us next on Hypebot.com's 2014 Year End Virtual Panel. Cool lands among other YouTube Music key skeptics: "I’m not sure what impact it will have. YouTube has gotten away with being the largest free music streaming service for years. I don’t know how they’re going to get people to start paying for it now, and it already seems confusing." Find out more about how 2014 impacted Bandzoogle and what Dave Cool thinks this past year will mean for the music industry in 2015.
1) Do you see the current debate questioning the effect of ubiquitous free music online leading to real change, or is the Taylor Swift rift just a short term distraction?
I think it’s a short term distraction, but one that we’ll likely see a few more time before music streaming really takes over as the primary way the general public consumes music. And as long as artists with a large fan base like Taylor Swift can sell 2 million copies of an album, they will, and that’s fine. But there will come a point where that just won’t be possible as more people migrate to streaming services, we’re just not there yet.
2) How important is the entry of YouTube Music Key and the expansion of Beats Music within the Apple ecosystem? Will they lead to a much larger streaming audience by the end of 2015, or just fragment a steadily expanding user base?
Count me among the doubters of YouTube Music Key (starting with that name…?). I’m not sure what impact it will have. YouTube has gotten away with being the largest free music streaming service for years. I don’t know how they’re going to get people to start paying for it now, and it already seems confusing.
As for Beats, very curious how Apple handles that acquisition. Will they integrate it into their iOS as a new streaming music app? Simply rebrand it and integrate it within iTunes? Regardless, even with all those credit cards on file, it remains to be seen whether those customers will make the switch. I’m guessing it will be more gradual migration to streaming rather than a huge influx, so to answer your question, I think it will just fragment an expanding user base.
3) What big shift or story took place in 2014 that will have a major effect on your business/sector in 2015? How will you feel and field the effects?
Well, Bandzoogle is a website platform for musicians, so every time Facebook decreases the % of fans who see updates from Pages (which seemed to happen several times this past year), I think the more artists realize that they can’t rely solely on social media. So we’ll keep preaching the importance of having your own proper website and a mailing list that you own, and provide those tools for musicians (along with powerful design and ecommerce features) to allow them to have total control over their online presence.
For more from Hypebot.com's Virtual Panel:
Welcome to Hypebot.com’s 2014 Year End Virtual Panel | Join the Conversation
- Cortney Harding of Muzooka
- Kyle Bylin of Soundhound
- Simon Cole of 7digital
- Dmitri Vietze of Rock Paper Scissors
