Old Dog Utilizes New Trick
So Presidents of the United States of America has released an iPhone application that streams their music; essentially allowing you access to their entire discography for $3.
This is what the future looks like.
They’re not the first people with this idea, either. South Park Studios (producers of South Park, obvs) was recently denied approval for their streaming application, where a user can, for free, watch every single episode of South Park at their own pace. Apple nixed it, supposedly because South Park can be perceived as “potentially insensitive”. (REALITY CHECK: Not only has Apple featured the show in a “Made On a Mac” piece on their web site, but you can buy the entire show on iTunes.)
It does pose an interesting dynamic, though. Yeah, there’s drawbacks (can’t listen to it in the background like the iPod application, you also don’t own any of the music), but it’s certainly one way to get your music out there while still making a buck.
As of this writing, the app has an average rating of 4/5 stars.