Can smartphones save the music industry?*

*probably not, but at this point, what’s the harm in trying

Canada’s Globe and Mail finished up their five part series “Download Decade” today, examining the future of digital media etc. Part 5 honed in specifically on smartphones which a big-wig at Google, a bunch of tech-nerd wonks and Nettwerk Record’s Terry McBride all point to as the future.

I personally found this to be the least interesting entry in the series since it had very little to do with downloading media or music. Also, I don’t own a smartphone so I can’t really identify with what they’re talkning about. That’s not to say that I disagree with the crux of the story, that “‘the mobile phone is for the next decade what the computer has been for the last two or three,’” because that just makes sense.

One thing that did come out in the article was the idea that mobile apps like streaming radio are going to play a big part in the future of the music industry. With things moving to cloud computing, it seems the idea of paying a monthly fee to listen to everything ever recorded is getting closer. It also seems like good value for your dollar. I have well over 500 CD, 250 LPs and about 100GB of music lying around, and damned if I’m going to sit around organizing it all so I can access it on my iPhoneBerry or whatever (okay, if push came to shove I would).

Coincidentally,  this week Pandora (which doesn’t work in Canada – boo-urns) projected that after a decade it plans to turn a profit next year on the back of its iPhone app. Combined with an increasing push from media lobby groups (MPAA, RIAA) and some foreign governments (wipe that sly grin off your face Sarkozy) to have ISPs simply boot people off their servers when caught downloading shit, these guys just might be right.