Are music streaming services a curse or a blessing?

[Datameister 2,042]

15 minutes ago, Jurassic Shark said:

The sound quality on Spotify is usually way better than on YouTube.

 

If I'm looking for sound quality, I'll buy the CD.  When I listen to something on YouTube, it's typically because I need to know something about the piece of music, not because I just want to listen to it for pleasure.

 

And yeah, @bruce marshall, it seems the music industry has finally embraced the direction they're inevitably headed. You can find official uploads of a lot of music on there.

[bruce marshall 1,315]

1 minute ago, Datameister said:

 

If I'm looking for sound quality, I'll buy the CD.  When I listen to something on YouTube, it's typically because I need to know something about the piece of music, not because I just want to listen to it for pleasure.

 

And yeah, @bruce marshall, it seems the music industry has finally embraced the direction they're inevitably headed. You can find official uploads of a lot of music on there.

But, I can only listen thru headphones.

[Arpy 4,145]

I have nothing against streaming services, I think it's a great way to be able to listen to music if you don't own it or don't want to have a dedicated music device. I prefer to own a physical copy of the music from which I can either play or make a perfect digital copy of, and the entire package something like a CD offers (artwork and all). I guess it will come back to ownership for me, I feel like I don't own something on Spotify, it's sitting on some server somewhere around the world.

[publicist 4,643]

For me as a customer it's a blessing, also I really don't get why film music fans often happen to be so obtuse in regards to changing winds in the media landscape. The time of the cd is over, give or take a few years, and it's time to adapt. Which doesn't mean streaming is a substitute for buying stuff you really like (to own) - be it as cd or mp3 or Flac or whatever - but if you think about it, all the time spent on obtaining music that you now can sample for free. Why shouldn't that be a great thing? If you don't even can spend 10€ a month, that's another matter but then <you theoretically shouldn't be able to buy expensive boutique editions for 30€ plus shipping.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

What good is music if I can't tape it?

[publicist 4,643]

You can tape it, I recommend Audacity, AudioGrabber or Audio Hijack. 

[Sweeping Strings 2,358]

*Remembers that time a few years back when 16 of the tracks in the top 20 were by Ed Sheeran* 

I'll go with 'curse'. 

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

49 minutes ago, publicist said:

You can tape it, I recommend Audacity, AudioGrabber or Audio Hijack. 

 

What? What is all this jibberish? Why do I need a degree just to listen to music properly without a computer?

[Wojo 2,453]

You don't need a degree. You can stream the music to speakers and still capture it using a tape recorder.

 

Hopefully you won't pass gas, the neighbor won't knock on the door, the phone won't ring, and the firetruck won't scream down your street. 

[bruce marshall 1,315]

6 hours ago, PuhgreÞiviÞm said:

 

What? What is all this jibberish? Why do I need a degree just to listen to music properly without a computer?

Hell yeah!

8 hours ago, publicist said:

For me as a customer it's a blessing, also I really don't get why film music fans often happen to be so obtuse in regards to changing winds in the media landscape. The time of the cd is over, give or take a few years, and it's time to adapt. "

" adapt"?

ADAPT?!!😠

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

Pussycat! 😺

[Datameister 2,042]

10 hours ago, publicist said:

For me as a customer it's a blessing, also I really don't get why film music fans often happen to be so obtuse in regards to changing winds in the media landscape. The time of the cd is over, give or take a few years, and it's time to adapt. Which doesn't mean streaming is a substitute for buying stuff you really like (to own) - be it as cd or mp3 or Flac or whatever - but if you think about it, all the time spent on obtaining music that you now can sample for free. Why shouldn't that be a great thing? If you don't even can spend 10€ a month, that's another matter but then <you theoretically shouldn't be able to buy expensive boutique editions for 30€ plus shipping.

 

I can't speak for anyone else, but I fully intend to adapt...once it's actually necessary. The landscape right now favors digital sales and streaming, and I fully expect that CDs will continue to dwindle in popularity in the years to come. But for now, I can still buy most of the music I want on CD, which is my preferred format because it allows me to go digital without sacrificing quality or liner notes. Paying a monthly fee for a streaming service would provide pretty marginal benefits when I look at how I spend my time. That's purely a comment on my own habits; I'm sure it's well worth it for many, many people, just as CDs are currently worth it for me. When they're no longer a reasonable option I'll fully switch to digital purchases - lossless where possible. If those also go the way of the dodo and streaming compressed audio is the only way to get new music...well, yeah, we will have taken a collective step backward in terms of listening options, so I won't be thrilled about that. But I'm not aware of any indication that'll be happening.

[Jurassic Shark 12,075]

In the end, we'll all start buying LPs.

[Datameister 2,042]

15 minutes ago, Jurassic Shark said:

In the end, we'll all start buying LPs.

 

No thanks.

[Jurassic Shark 12,075]

27 minutes ago, Datameister said:

 

No thanks.

 

They take up too much space!

 

I can't fit them in my CD player either...

[bruce marshall 1,315]

You don't need any outside service  or any company to play a CD.

Why give that up? Why embrace dependency?

 

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

4 hours ago, bruce marshall said:

You don't need any outside service  or any company to play a CD.

Why give that up? Why embrace dependency?

 

 

Because that's Gen-Z for ya, always wanting to outsource and downsize.

[Jurassic Shark 12,075]

Soon, CDs will be illegal because they're made of plastic, and we'll all become outlaws. Except Pubs, that is.

[bruce marshall 1,315]

Soon CD stores will be illegal because young people congregate their and don't practice " social distancing"😡

[publicist 4,643]

13 hours ago, Datameister said:

I can't speak for anyone else, but I fully intend to adapt...once it's actually necessary. 

 

It has become necessary, by all accounts. I'm not talking about updating old movie scores with expensive new cd editions (not available in any other format, before they're unloaded on Spotify, of course) but rather the whole handling of music, which hardly anyone on the planet does sitting at home listening to discs. If my only filter bubble were film music forums, i would be under the impression we're still struck in the 90's ('Not a penny of my money for digital crap!!). It's endearingly old-fashioned but also kind of musty.

[Jurassic Shark 12,075]

CDs albums won't die, they will be manufactured on demand on crappy CD-Rs.

[publicist 4,643]

And most people will continue to rip them asap to listen to the music on their phones and other gear.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

Do people keep anything inside their homes anymore?

[publicist 4,643]

Their diseases, hopefully.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

Sounds like no-one keeps personal possessions anymore.

[Sweeping Strings 2,358]

14 hours ago, Jurassic Shark said:

In the end, we'll all start buying LPs.

There's already been a vinyl revival in recent years ... you'll often find new releases in LP format along with the CD/download/streaming options.  

[Jurassic Shark 12,075]

I know.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

But LPs wear out after you play them. What good are they?

[Jurassic Shark 12,075]

Chick magnets, presumably.

[bruce marshall 1,315]

8 hours ago, PuhgreÞiviÞm said:

But LPs wear out after you play them. What good are they?

Buy two copies

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

2 hours ago, bruce marshall said:

Buy two copies

 

What are you, made of money?

[bruce marshall 1,315]

On 9/4/2020 at 7:06 AM, mstrox said:

I installed a Plex server on my laptop - it's like my own personal Spotify!

[gkgyver 1,645]

On 9/5/2020 at 4:49 AM, King Mark said:

True but my basic concern is that it will eventually kill purchasable music altogether and we won't have that choice eventually

 

Then get all the discs you need right now, because that will happen. 

[Brundlefly 2,385]

On 9/5/2020 at 4:49 AM, King Mark said:

True but my basic concern is that it will eventually kill purchasable music altogether and we won't have that choice eventually

That's the point!

[Wojo 2,453]

Physical ownership will be banned in the new world order. All we will need is streaming. 

[bruce marshall 1,315]

Just now, who cares said:

Physical ownership will be banned in the new world order. All we will need is streaming. 

Amappoogle Inc.

[publicist 4,643]

You can still rip that.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

I might as well die since it sounds like there's nothing to look forward to.

[publicist 4,643]

Trump re-election?

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

16 minutes ago, publicist said:

Trump re-election?

 

After that, what else is there? I might stick around for Godzilla vs Kong, but after that, I might check out within some years. Especially if disc players are no longer manufactured.

[Thor 7,504]

I will have a 'mixed setup' for as long as I live, probably. I love the ritual of picking out something physically from my collection, CDs or LPs, and playing them while the sleeve stands up-front, as a "Now Playing" feature in them ol' record stores. Feels more "important" somehow. But I also love to have easy access to my entire collection on iTunes while I'm working on the computer, or sampling and researching stuff on streaming services like Spotify, Youtube and Bandcamp (the latter, in particular, has opened my eyes to a great many synthwave composers in recent years). We have an abundance of choice these days, really.

[Jurassic Shark 12,075]

We indeed have an abundace of choice. But with so much to explore, I find myself not getting strongly acquainted to albums as often as I used to.

[Disco Stu 15,495]

Quote

Spotify’s inability to become consistently profitable tends not to bother investors, who see vast potential in the company’s hoard of personal data. The musicologist Eric Drott fills in more of that chilling picture in a recent Journal of the Society for American Music article, titled “Music as a Technology of Surveillance.” According to Drott, Spotify’s head of programmatic solutions once boasted, “We not only know what our users are listening to, we also know their personal activities as well,” and gave showering as an example. The company registers “550,000 shower streams per day.”

 

https://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/the-hidden-costs-of-streaming-music

[mstrox 6,651]

I don't have Spotify, so I don't think they could possibly know about my shower streams!

[Wojo 2,453]

PlexAmp might be the best app for music that I've ever found. My music collection is a total mess and it still handles it beautifully. Genre radio is where it's at. 

[Jay 37,363]

Hmm, just installed it and it says it requires PlexPass, which we don't pay for 

[Disco Stu 15,495]

Saw this on social media, but I can't speak to the veracity of its claims.

 

Sadly, the music streaming service I pay for a subscription is by far the worst for artist compensation.  Ad-free Youtube is too worth it to give up for my internet habits.  Pretty funny that Napster of all things is best.

[A24 4,333]

Hmm, I'm currently on Amazon Music ... At least they are more generous than Spotify!

[Jurassic Shark 12,075]

What a great idea for a thread!

[Jay 37,363]

How strange that the list isn't sorted alphabetically by service, nor numerically by # of streams.  It's just... not sorted.