The trend towards shared services, also known as the cloud, is already impacting the world of mobile music in a dramatic way. Instead of paying for individual tracks, some of the most ardent music lovers are choosing to stream music from hosted services. This trend will create new opportunities for companies in the mobile music space, including new partnerships with music providers who can enable users to listen immediately. What role will music discovery services can play in helping consumers enter into and navigate through these huge celestial jukeboxes?
WILL MILLS was appointed Head of Music at Shazam in 2003 and promoted to Music & Content Director in 2009. Under his leadership Shazam’s music database has expanded to over ten million tracks enabling expansion into over two hundred countries and growth to one hundred million users to the service. Will has co-invented patented technologies at Shazam and also conceived and developed Shazam’s ticketing strategy. Most recently Will has developed innovative partnerships with artists such as Faithless and Take That. Prior to joining Shazam, Will worked across the music industry for several record labels and music production companies.
ALEXANDER LJUNG is founder and CEO of SoundCloud, the audio platform that enables anybody to upload, record, promote and share their sounds on the web. Since its launch in 2008, Alexander has been responsible for all aspects of the site's strategic vision and business development. Under his leadership, SoundCloud has quickly gained a reputation for being the number one platform available for audio creators to share, broadcast, track and promote their sounds. There are currently more than two million registered users and this number is growing exponentially.
