Now Lala’s gone. Apple shut it down last night sometime after 2 am Eastern. And there’s nothing in its place.

Free streaming music hasn’t completely left the Web: You can still get it at MySpace Music and in various forms at sites like MyOwn.FM, GrooveShark and HypeMachine.

But the big music labels, which own a piece of MySpace Music, aren’t happy with this arrangement. And the other services are in a legal gray area–they’re not fully licensed, but the labels aren’t trying to sue them out of business, yet.

Meanwhile Spotify and MyOwn.FM, which delights European music lovers with its free service, has yet to get permission to operate in the U.S. If it does, it’s almost certain to cut back on gratis tunes in favour of a subscription offering.

So what about a cloud-based model, whereby you access music you own from anywhere you can get a Web connection? Apple seems interested in the idea, and so does Google.

Still, maybe Steve Jobs has a surprise up his sleeve. Perhaps he’ll tip his hand tonight, when the Apple CEO sits down for an interview with Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher.

Here’s how it works. The service’s application that operates in the background of your computer managing the upload and day-to-day syncing of your music library. In addition, it can upload playlists, coverart, ratings and song information you may have entered using iTunes. The application will manage your music for you, making automatic updates whenever changes occur in your library, and on across different connected devices.

The service will be open to the public in the next few months. Right now, private beta users have free access to 2 gigabytes of storage but have the option of paying to upgrade to more storage.

Of course Lala did this as well, but Apple has shut that service down after acquiring it. And its widely expected that Apple will be launching a cloud-based version of iTunes soon, which would pose a serious threat to mSpot’s offering.

Mspot is best known for its Mobile Movies site, which will let users stream full-length movies on their mobile phones, on the web, so you can enjoy mSpot’s online streaming movie service on your computer. mSpot has struck deals with Paramount, Universal, Image Entertainment, and Screen Media Ventures to stream full-length movie rentals to users’ PCs and cell phones, allowing you to switch between both devices as you pick up and leave off throughout a movie. The PC streaming functionality builds upon the mobile movie service mSpot launched last year. The service, which just launched an iPhone app, includes 1000 titles that can be streamed to both a computer and mobile device.

Most of this isn’t huge news but the statistics are pretty striking. For example:

• 32% of users listen to an average of 5.8 hours of Internet radio a week, a huge jump.
• iPod owners consume 8.9 hours of media per week

Videos from Vevo are integrated into search results on the new Muziic Web app.

Like the Muziic desktop app and U.K.-based TubeRadio.fm, the new Muziic Web player draws its content from YouTube, and allows you to queue songs and save playlists. But it’s got a couple of interesting wrinkles.

First, you can get content from Vevo without the pre-roll video advertisements you’d see on the YouTube or Vevo.com versions of the advertisements. (Nelson explained that those ads are not yet incorporated into the YouTube API, so they don’t show up on the Muziic player; knowing Vevo’s business goals, look for this to be "corrected" soon.) A Vevo tab on the Muziic Web player lets you surf through videos on the service, but they’ll also show up in search results. There’s also a crossfade feature that lets you blend songs together with a 1- to 10-second overlap–that’s nothing new for a desktop app, but rare in a free Web app.

In addition, there’s a new Muziic Facebook app that lets you play Muziic’s entire library from within Facebook and post songs to your profile, and an iPhone app is coming shortly.

source: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13526_3-10422682-27.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20

Songs instead of albums
Musicians will always find ways to record their music–it’s a fundamental drive, like painting for a painter or writing for a writer. But I agree with Guttenberg that fewer musicians will release suites of songs organized around a common theme or sound. As much as I love my long-playing records, they arose out of economics rather than art–they were a convenient way for companies to bundle multiple songs (particularly songs that might not have sold as singles) in an affordable package. With digital files already taking the place of physical recordings, there’s almost no economic reason for the album to persist. By 2020, the concept of the album will be an anachronism with a few vocal adherents–like vinyl records are today–but most music will be released and consumed as songs.

Streams instead of downloads
Where did we get the idea that digital music has to be downloaded? It started with the CD and file-trading networks–content owners wouldn’t sell us music in a form that could be consumed on our computers, so we ripped our own and swapped the files through Napster and its brethren. But now, every time a new song or album comes out, or we rediscover an old act, we have to rip or download the recordings, then transfer them to whichever device(s) we want to play them on. There’s got to be an easier way!

If you had access to every song ever recorded, on any device, from any location with an Internet connection, wouldn’t you rather pay for that service than buy a new CD or two every month? People say they want to own music, but when it’s just a digital file, what do they want to own–a collection of ones and zeroes sitting on a segment of their hard drive? Why bother?

I think the real problem is that today’s streaming services don’t give you every song ever recorded and don’t work on every device, and broadband data access–particularly wireless–is not ubiquitous. Those flaws stem from business problems (licensing, DRM, format incompatibility, and insufficient broadband infrastructure) rather than technology problems. And the business problems are gradually being resolved–look at the introduction of Rhapsody and Spotify for iPhone, and Apple’s acquisition of streaming music service (and music locker) Lala. By 2020, most professionally recorded music will be consumed as on-demand streams and people won’t pay by the track.

In the cloud rather than on hard drives
Some songs will never be available on demand–think of tracks from friends or obscure independent acts, or live covers (where licensing can be incredibly complicated, involving multiple performers and songwriters). But as users become accustomed to listening to more professionally recorded music on demand, they’ll expect their personal collections to be available in the cloud as well. After all, who wants to spend time backing up a 120GB music collection on an external drive, or choosing particular recordings to eliminate in order to clear space on a cell phone?

This is where Apple’s Lala acquisition really makes sense–imagine if iTunes served not only as an on-demand music service but also as a locker for songs you’d previously downloaded, ripped, or obtained elsewhere. Suddenly, the 16GB of storage on an entry-level iPhone would seem generous instead of paltry.

Fidelity rather than file size
Once our music lives in the cloud, we’ll no longer have to worry about running out of space on our local drives or devices. Microsoft’s SkyDrive already offers 25GB of online storage for free, and I could easily see that increasing one-hundred-fold by 2020. That’s right: free terabytes of storage. It’ll take a little bit longer, but eventually bandwidth–even wireless bandwidth–will increase to the point where streaming lossless digital files makes sense. Listeners will rediscover what they’ve been missing–detail in the midrange, and tons of information at the low and high ends of the spectrum–and the era of the MP3 will be looked back (and down) upon as the dark ages of audio quality.

Extras become standard
Again, with concerns over storage gradually disappearing, what’s to prevent artists from packaging their music with artwork, lyric sheets, video outtakes, and even interactive applications? Today’s artist-specific iPhone appswill become standard. Casual fans will stream a couple songs for free. Hardcore fans will pay to download the entire app and pore over it obsessively.

Production rather than consumption
Digital technology has already democratized the recording process–what used to take tens of thousands of dollars and a professional studio can now be accomplished with a laptop and a free program like Garage Band orAudacity. The results usually don’t sound as good, but the experimentation process is fun, and sometimes a gem emerges. Digital technology and the Internet have also made promotion and distribution far easier than they were a decade ago. By 2020, music fans will spend almost as much time creating and sharing recordings with their friends as they do listening to professionally recorded music. Don’t believe me? Think of this: 10 years ago, writers were a comparatively rare breed. Now, everybody’s got a blog, or at least a Facebook page. In another 10 years, everybody will be a musician–or at least a recording artist.

Suggestions rather than searches
In a world of on-demand music in the cloud, search will become vitally important. Users will want to be able to find songs not only by title, album, or artist, but also by a few snippets of lyrics, or even by humming or playing part of a melody. (Imagine a combination of the voice search function available on Google Mobile with an advanced version of technology like Shazam, which can identify recorded music from a few snippets.) But search is only part of the question–once everything’s available, how will users decide what to listen to? By 2020, personalized recommendation services, like those provided by Pandora, Slacker, and MOG, will become even more important than search, and will have to be integrated into any on-demand music service that hopes to survive.

Festivals rather than big concerts
Live music is already a long-tail world–with the exception of old, established acts and the very occasional pop sensation, very few bands can fill large arenas or football stadiums. This trend will accelerate as the last bands from the golden age of radio retire, labels take even fewer big promotional risks, and the market continues to fragment under the explosion in recording releases. In 2020, no single act will be able to sell 50,000 tickets at Qwest Field like U2 hopes to do this summer. Instead, the only shows that will pack large arenas will be festivals, where listeners can pick and choose among dozens of acts and classes of entertainment–just like they’ll be doing online.

Spectacle rather than personality
With recording revenue plunging, bands must draw fans to their live shows in order to make a living. The common wisdom today dictates that musicians need a personal connection with their fans. They must blog, tweet, maintain their MySpace and Facebook profiles, and generally act like your next door neighbor who’s always pestering you to see his band. There’s a word for receiving "personal" messages from your favorite 100 bands–it’s called "spam." Eventually, this cloud of self-promotional noise will dissipate, and will be replaced by old-fashioned word of mouth. Only acts that put on a great show–not just singing and playing songs, but entertaining in the old-fashioned sense of the word, with video and stagecraft and humor and spectacle–will cut through the noise. Bonus points for the first act that somehow integrates an audience-accessible game console into their act.

Retro takes on a new meaning
In 2020, the original iPod will be almost 20 years old. As the music world is overtaken by a nearly infinite selection of high-fidelity music, streamed over super-fast wireless connections to increasingly inexpensive portable devices, hardcore nostalgists will drag out their first-generation iPods and fill them with treble-heavy 120kbps MP3s. Meanwhile, grandpa will still be down in the basement with his collection of LP records and his lava lamp.

With that in mind, here are my five predictions for music in 2010.

1. Labels Will Get Smart

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It’s been coming for more than a decade, but major labels are starting to grasp the digital opportunity. They’re licensing music on more sustainable terms, diversifying their business model, investing in new technology and, most critically, understanding more than ever what it means to be truly consumer-led.

As market leaders, major labels have the resources and the networks to profit most from the changes currently taking place. The move from physical to digital hasn’t been as fast as many people might have wished, but that’s because digital still doesn’t pay like physical does.

CDs, when they sell well, still mean big money. Digital isn’t like that. But that’s changing, and as major labels have shrunk, their capacity for change has increased. Expect 2010 to be the year that the bad press on the major labels starts becoming more favorable.

The promises of the digital age — deeper understanding of the music consumer, integrated ticketing and merchandise, direct-to-consumer sales, and fans as marketing teams — are all about to become a reality, and major labels will lead the charge.

2. Physical CD Sales Will Continue to Decline

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To ensure at least one of my predictions comes true, I’m going to forecast that globally, sales of physical CDs will decline in 2010. That’s one thing you can definitely count on.

3. Release Strategies Will Evolve

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The traditional model of building buzz through radio singles followed by a carefully timed album launch will still be the norm for commercial pop music. But at the edges, we’re going to start seeing a new model for releasing music that’s more attuned to the diverse community of music consumers.

The new model, pioneered by Topspin Media, will be the multi-tiered, staggered release. Artists will offer free, full streams and selected downloads early to the curious and the devoted, building their fanbase as they grow. Traditional release schedules will follow, in tandem with more innovative products, at more diverse prices, to more accurately segmented groups of fans.

Rather than just a plastic CD, we’ll start seeing multiple tiers of music product: free streams and low quality mp3s, simple digital and physical packages, enhanced audio and packaging on digital and physical releases, and then levels of premium products including vinyl, merchandise, and increased access to the artist.

We still think of music in its physical form as a CD on the shelf. Increasingly, we’re going to understand it as a suite of music products — T-Shirts, mugs, books, framed art, signed lyric sheets, USBs, and once-in-a-lifetime music experiences.

4. Music Will Live Legitimately in the Cloud

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It’s been talked about for a number of years, but 2010 could be the year we start thinking of music less as a finite product and more as an infinite, on-demand reservoir to be accessed at any time for a fee.

This process will roll out in tandem with the evolution of music “products.” Even if music is universally accessible, it’s still key to people’s identity. We still need something to put on a coffee table, something to pass to friends, something to put under the Christmas tree and something to signal to the world that “this music is part of me and I want you to know it.”

iTunes, as ever, is in the driver’s seat to make the most of this change. Its acquisition of LaLa could see them own the streaming market as it currently owns digital music.

Spotify’s buzz seems to have cooled, but it’s still the best-placed streaming service to take advantage of the cloud’s potential.

Grooveshark’s growth, if it continues, is going to make it a serious player in the streaming game.

MySpace, with iMeem and iLike in its back pocket may also consolidate its place in the land of the streaming.

Startups such as MyOwn.FM and The Cloud Player will challenge established players.

And finally, Google –- who owns the bridge over the moat, digitally speaking –- could pull the rug from everyone and facilitate properly integrated music streaming into its search platform.

Whoever emerges at the front of this pack will be in new territory, providing access to the world’s music, anytime, anywhere on any device.

5. Ethnic Music Content will Grow

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The new music models will start trickling down to international markets such as Russian music, Greek Music, and Spanish radio stations. These niche markets are huge and are similar to the long-tail results in search engines.

6. Who Knows?

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There’s some as-yet untested consumer models building momentum.

Guvera is promising the world, not just to the music industry, but to advertisers as well. Whether consumers buy into its advertisement for content exchange remains to be seen.

Rdio, with serious pedigree and some big money backing it, hasn’t poked its head up completely yet, but you can be assured that whatever it offers isn’t going to be lightweight.

Lost in all the buzz is the fact that some legacy digital music companies — Last.FM, Pandora and MySpace to name a few — still have the established brands, the existing customer base, and the revenue streams that preserve their lives beyond the froth of the tech/music blogosphere.

And of course, there’s Facebook. The biggest country in the world (or soon to be), Facebook and music have always been awkward bedfellows. If Zuckerberg and Co. can figure a way to integrate music with the Facebook platform, the existing user base would guarantee a big chunk of the market overnight.

It all adds up to create a big void of uncertainty, one that will be filled in the way the web knows best — by its end-users. What those end-users decide they love will ultimately determine the winners and losers in the digital music economy. As a passionate music fan, I can’t wait for the competition to heat up. For those on the digital frontier, music really is better than it’s ever been.

Clear Channel Radio’s iheartradio app gives users free access to some 350 American radio stations, including a couple of artist-hosted stations from the likes of Megadeth, Eagles and Weezer.

The app also enables you to get ‘frequently updated’ traffic reports for large markets including New York, L.A., Chicago, San Francisco and Houston.

Like its iPhone / iPod Touch sister, the iheartradio app for Android can be configured to automatically start playing a specific station upon launch, includes artwork and lyrics and also enables users to tag songs for purchase on iTunes.

To download the free app, simply log on to Android Market from your handset (Android v1.5 or higher).

The deal will allow Hulu to post music videos, artist interviews, live concerts, and behind-the-scenes footage from artists on WMG labels like Atlantic Records, Rhino Records, and Warner Bros. Records.

Hulu has already posted footage from Muse, including video from the band’s recent appearance on "Saturday Night Live," as well as content from its shows at Wembley Stadium, interviews, and older music videos.

In the coming weeks, Hulu will also add content from Jason Mraz, Fueled by Ramen, and Paramore, with more artists expected in early 2010.

"We’re pleased to be working with Hulu as we expand our premium ad-supported video strategy to provide our artists with a customized and flexible approach to marketing and monetizing their music, by leveraging the most powerful partnerships and platforms in the industry," Michael Nash, executive vice president for digital strategy and business development, said in statement. "Hulu has been a leader and innovator in this space, and we look forward to working with them on creating compelling, content-rich artist channels that will provide a dynamic experience to their fans, while introducing our artists to new audiences online."

In November, Hulu struck a similar deal with EMI and several of its labels, including Virgin, Capitol, and BlueNote. Its first artist page featured content from Norah Jones.

Hulu’s foray into music videos comes several weeks after YouTube teamed up with Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, EMI, CBS Interactive Music Group, and AT&T to launch its own video Web site, dubbed Vevo.

MySpace Music

We’ve known this was happening for a while now (MySpace even tells users who visit imeem.com that their playlists are being migrated), but it now looks like the site is taking a more proactive approach to keeping its users informed. This is probably what it should have done from the start, instead of suddenly pulling the plug on its API and redirecting all imeem traffic to MySpace without any prior warning. But at least your imeem playlists will live on, which is better than nothing.

ArtistData is a site to help musicians store their information and reach out to fans in the shortest amount of time. For example, enter tour dates once, then publish to MySpace, your website and send local media alerts.

The site itself is modular, with plugins for each service, so it already looks like a complete platform. Now it’s open to outside developers who want to provide new end points for the data the artists already have stored.

Founder Brenden Mulligan makes a good case for building on top of his platform:

“We feel that by giving developers a robust platform to build on that is already in use by tons of musicians, development will be faster and the apps will get in front of the intended customers immediately. If you’re a developer who wants to build better mailing list software for bands, you can build it within a dashboard artists are already using. If you want to build a way for bands to calculate how much they’ll spend on gas while on tour, you can create an app that pulls existing tour data.”

Another site, TopSpin, has similar features, but appears a bit more closed. Artists must apply and be contacted before they can use the services. On the web, that usually means a sales process. And though TopSpin has partners that provide services, that is also not as open as ArtistData.

It’s not just the openness of ArtistData’s developer platform that’s intriguing. You can charge for your applications, with ArtistData taking care of the billing. There is no credit card hassle for you and artists are more likely to spend because their information is already on file with a company they supposedly trust.

Hypebot has an interview with Mulligan, where he gives a more broad view of the platform:

“My goal has always been for ArtistData to make artists as effective and efficient as possible. Providing them with a platform to access high quality tools (developed by separate, dedicated teams) in a convenient and central dashboard is very compelling to me.”

In the comments to the Hypebot post, a few musicians expressed frustration that ArtistData is just another of the many do-it-yourself tools. Others noted how they need a hub for all things band marketing.

The pitch of a single place for all that is important is compelling. Facebook makes a similar argument for our entire social lives. The question that rarely comes up in these situations (though it certainly has for Facebook) is why you? A central platform is always going to have an owner and it comes down to whether the features are compelling enough to get the attention of both users and developers.