Last night I flew into Sydney to be a part of Telstra’s launch of its new music streaming service MOG. Using the service over the past week it struck me that the way we listen to music has changed enormously over the course of my life. From single CDs on the Walkman – remember how frustrating it was trying to walk with them, to online music subscription services like MOG.

I am always on the hunt not only for new artists but also for hard-to-come-by rarities. MOG lets me do both of those things really easily, right from my smart phone.

One feature of MOG that I am especially enjoying is MOG Radio. It allows me to look up an old time artist like Lil Armstrong, whose music I’ve struggled to find elsewhere, and then, get suggestions about similar artists that other listeners have discovered, based on their own musical tastes.

So, a Lil Armstrong fan may lead me to Lanie Lane, C.W. Stoneking or some other brilliant music-makers who you would not necessarily have heard if you were just listening to commercial radio. It’s a really simple, rather ingenious way to discover new music, and to give old songs a new life.

The other thing I love about MOG is the ability to create playlists. Over the next two weeks I’ll be creating my own playlists and sharing them on the Telstra social media channels. My first playlist will be “new and amazing Australian songs”.

You never know, you might just hear your soon-to-be favourite new band. I’ll be watching the growth of subscription music services with interest as an artist.

There are still many questions to be answered and much to learn about the way online music subscription will affect and change how we listen to and appreciate music. At this stage, the early signs for music-makers themselves look generally positive because music subscription offers an attractive alternative to music-piracy and a new way of exposure for artists.

What we know without doubt from a music-lovers point of view is that we live in extremely fortunate times indeed.

(Clare Bowditch will release her fifth album, The Winter I Chose Happiness, in September 2012.)

We talked to Clare Bowditch in the video below about Australia’s newest music streaming service.

Related Links:

• MOG – a revolution has begun
• BigPond Music – MOG
• MOG powered by Telstra – A massive deal for music lovers
• MOG Blog
• Clare Bowditch