The technology twittersphere is abuzz with Elon Musk’s latest move: He wants to build his own music streaming service for Tesla.
https://venturebeat.com/2017/06/23/probeat-how-teslas-music-service-should-work/
You know, I’m not so surprised that Elon wants to do it himself. After all, he’s not the kind of guy to suffer fools. And - let’s face it - the current streaming music options are shit.
First off, think about Spotify.
Spotify seems pretty good - accurate playlist predictions, affordable rates, easy sharing. What’s so shit about that?
This: https://www.digitalmusicnews.com/2017/06/21/spotify-million-royalty-indie-tunecore/
Royalty payments are going down the tubes. That link features an independent artist - who receives ALL of their royalties, no label shenanigans getting in the way - and received less than $5,000 for 4+ million streams of music.
This is not an artist whining about some mis-managed business deals - it’s just Spotify paying an absolute pittance per stream. If you aren’t the beneficiary of a swanky major label payola situation, you’re fucked, apparently.
What about Apple Music?
Apple Music is great - if you have apple products. Otherwise, as anybody who has tried to use iTunes on a windows machine can attest to, it’s a terrible experience.
Roughly 80% of all mobile devices, and 90+% of desktop computers, are not Apple. Soooo that’s no good - and I highly doubt Tesla will be running Apple-powered software in their cars. Even moreso considering that Apple has been developing its own self-driving car for years, if the rumors are to be believed.
What about the other streaming services? Tidal, Soundcloud, etc?
…what about them? Compared to Spotify and Apple Music, they are small potatoes. I don’t care how many times Jay-Z puts out a new exclusive album on Tidal, it’s never going to be the main streaming service for Tesla.
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Let’s be Real for a Minute
OK, this article is a little tongue-in-cheek.
The real reason that Elon is looking at building a streaming service, as the VentureBeat article from the beginning of this post says, is probably to ensure compatibility with all the other options. So you can hook up your Spotify, Apple Music, Tidal, etc accounts into the Tesla service, and no matter what you like to use, you’ll be set. If you don’t have a streaming account anywhere, Tesla can set you up with a proprietary one.
That seems to make sense. Time will tell. At least it makes for a good excuse to point out some of the major flaws with the current services. What do you think?
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