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# What Does Free Streaming Mean for the Music Industry?
- URL: https://www.hypebot.com/what-does-free-streaming-mean-for-the-music-industry/
- Published: 2014-08-19T14:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2014-08-19T14:00:00.000Z
- Description: We hear more than enough about the negative impacts of free streaming in today's music industry. Pandora, Grooveshark, SoundCloud and so many others give us access to live streaming music. Continue reading [https://www.hypebot.com/hypebot/2014/08/what-does-free-streaming-mean-for-the-music-industry.
- Author: Guest Author
- Tags: Indie Music, Music Business, Music Tech, Music Think Tank, Streaming, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2026-01-21 10:38

[![Music_stream](http://hypebot.typepad.com/.a/6a00d83451b36c69e201a511f957a3970c-150wi "Music_stream")](http://hypebot.typepad.com/.a/6a00d83451b36c69e201a511f957a3970c-popup?ref=hypebot.com)

We hear more than enough about the negative impacts of [free streaming](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free%5Fstreaming?ref=hypebot.com) in today's [music industry](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music%5Findustry?ref=hypebot.com). [Pandora](http://pandora.com/?ref=hypebot.com), [Grooveshark](http://grooveshark.com/?ref=hypebot.com), [SoundCloud](http://soundcloud.com/?ref=hypebot.com) and so many others give us access to live [streaming music](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streaming%5Fmedia?ref=hypebot.com) at no cost. We know that this tends to have an [adverse effect](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adverse%5Feffect?ref=hypebot.com) for [musicians](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musician?ref=hypebot.com), especially those starting out, but are we unjustly condemning a service that could offer musicians a chance at free promotion they may not have access to otherwise? Now there's a silver lining.

Let me be the first to confess and profess my love for services such as pandora. When I'm sitting at my computer plowing through paperwork, the last thing I want to be in charge of is my playlist, so I give Pandora a few genre preferences for the day, and I let them take the wheel. As often happens, last week – thanks to Pandora – I was introduced to an artist I never would have known otherwise and from there, I proceeded to download one song, two songs, one album, and eventually every [single album](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single%5F%28music%29?ref=hypebot.com) he had available. **Mackenzie Carlin's** argument for the upside of live streaming is indeed substantiated and one certainly worth contemplating. Have you thought through how to maximize the free PR you have access to through these services? Join the conversation on [MusicThinkTank.com](http://www.musicthinktank.com/blog/what-does-free-streaming-mean-for-the-music-industry.html?ref=hypebot.com) and learn more about how to maximize your exposure through free streaming.

> "*In 2013, Nielson reported that 68 percent of [Americans](http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=38.8833333333,-77.0166666667&spn=10.0,10.0&q=38.8833333333,-77.0166666667%20%28United%20States%29&t=h&ref=hypebot.com) used music streaming services in the past year, and that sales of music went down 6.3 percent. Although this could hurt bigger artists, independent and lesser-known musicians can enjoy an increase in exposure by putting their music on this medium*."

\[[Continue Reading](http://www.musicthinktank.com/blog/what-does-free-streaming-mean-for-the-music-industry.html?ref=hypebot.com)\]

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