A closer look at the online music revolution

An article in this week's Guardian Technology supplement discusses the impact of the internet on both top-down and bottom-up music distribution. Taking pride of place on the cover of the supplement is a stunning graphic that shows how various parties, including the search behemoth Google, the social-network MySpace, and the online retailer Play.com, are connected via user clickstreams (The sites with the most upstream clicks are centralised, with bigger nodes):

Both the article and the graphic were inspired by a Heather Hopkins blog post for Hitwise.co.uk, which included additional graphics looking at the downstream clicks from Myspace and Bebo:

Whilst the detail in these graphics may be difficult to discern (visit the links in Heather's blog for full-size versions), the general message is clear: existing models for music distribution and promotion have been turned upside down and shaken about as Diginative music lovers increasingly seek to explore their passion through the medium of online community. The learnings for music marketers - and marketers of all high interest goods, which are, by definition, likely to be the subject of community discussion - are profound and multitudinous. I'll have a think about them and report back!