Kissing Spotify Goodbye and Good Riddance

I personally don't have this problem with streaming. I look for music myself; I don't have the service make selections for me or use playlists. I sometimes still pay some attention to "similar" music as noted by the streamer; Rhapsody invented this perk and it can still be of use. It is interesting that more, more involved listeners are using physical media (but notice, NOT vinyl in particular), friends' choices, internet radio, and record shops to put the physical participation back into playing their music. They find, after letting the streaming services generate choices to play, that playing a CD, a tape, making a selection on an iPod to play or finding it on the radio will put the participation back into playing some music.

This piece highlights what these listeners find is lost when using a music stream reduces music itself into a commodity.

https://www.theguardian.com/music/20...-love-of-music

Thanks for the article.

That's how I've always listened to music and I've never had a streaming subscription—but many thought that was strange!

iPod, CDs, SACDs, my iTunes program full of my CD rips, and an occasional LP works for me.

Thanks for the article. I have never streamed and like to use physical media and digital downloads.

Have been using Bandcamp for years and it's a great place to find new artists or follow ones you already know. Use KEXP Seattle and Reykjavik, NPR Tiny Desk Concerts and Audiotree to find new music as well.

There are so many artists out there it's impossible to keep up with them of all. So much new music out there just waiting to be found!

Rob :)

I prefer to select music myself as well. I got a subscription to Mojo magazine last year, after hunting for issues at Barnes & Noble each month. Almost 2 years ago I started dabbling with Qobuz - and as a test I put together a Raspberry Pi4 streamer with a topping DAC. I found a small display that mated beautifully with it, just to see where it was, tho I can controll it with my iPhone or Emma's iPad.
I don't let it put through playlists - what I usually do is search for new artists or music mentioned in Mojo, or - sometimes I check the list of new releases on the Quobuz homepage and see what interests me. Saturday I saw mention of a New Riders of the Purple Sage concert from the Lyceum in 1972 - and that was a fun listen. Not exactly new music, but I hadn't heard any of their stuff in a while and iot was fun. Last Christmas I renewed my subscription with Qobuz - annually, it works out to about $11/month. And the sound quality is great. I still play a lot of music (lossless) I have ripped to a hard drive on my mac mini upstairs and stream it through the house, or occasionally play a CD or SACD directly on an Oppo player - but I've been happy with Qobuz as a source.

Attachment 91136

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Ducatista47

I personally don't have this problem with streaming. I look for music myself; I don't have the service make selections for me or use playlists. I sometimes still pay some attention to "similar" music as noted by the streamer; Rhapsody invented this perk and it can still be of use. It is interesting that more, more involved listeners are using physical media (but notice, NOT vinyl in particular), friends' choices, internet radio, and record shops to put the physical participation back into playing their music. They find, after letting the streaming services generate choices to play, that playing a CD, a tape, making a selection on an iPod to play or finding it on the radio will put the participation back into playing some music.

This piece highlights what these listeners find is lost when using a music stream reduces music itself into a commodity.

https://www.theguardian.com/music/20...-love-of-music

---

I prefer to select music myself as well. I got a subscription to Mojo magazine last year, after hunting for issues at Barnes & Noble each month. Almost 2 years ago I started dabbling with Qobuz - and as a test I put together a Raspberry Pi4 streamer with a topping DAC. I found a small display that mated beautifully with it, just to see where it was, tho I can controll it with my iPhone or Emma's iPad.
I don't let it play through playlists - what I usually do is search for new artists or music mentioned in Mojo, or - sometimes I check the list of new releases on the Quobuz homepage, and see what interests me. Saturday I saw mention of a New Riders of the Purple Sage concert from the Lyceum in 1972 - and that was a fun listen. Of course, its not exactly new music, but I hadn't heard any of their stuff in a while, he concert was new to me, and it was fun. Last Christmas I renewed my subscription with Qobuz - annually, it works out to about $11/month. And the sound quality is great. I still play a lot of music (lossless) locally that I have ripped to a hard drive on my mac mini upstairs, and stream it through the house, or occasionally play a CD or SACD directly on an Oppo player - but I've been happy with Qobuz as a source.
Attachment 91139

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Ducatista47

I personally don't have this problem with streaming. I look for music myself; I don't have the service make selections for me or use playlists. I sometimes still pay some attention to "similar" music as noted by the streamer; Rhapsody invented this perk and it can still be of use. It is interesting that more, more involved listeners are using physical media (but notice, NOT vinyl in particular), friends' choices, internet radio, and record shops to put the physical participation back into playing their music. They find, after letting the streaming services generate choices to play, that playing a CD, a tape, making a selection on an iPod to play or finding it on the radio will put the participation back into playing some music.

This piece highlights what these listeners find is lost when using a music stream reduces music itself into a commodity.

https://www.theguardian.com/music/20...-love-of-music

---

I have also found Tiny Desk Concerts to be a great source of music I was not aware of. I liked it better before Covid interrupted the in office gigs and forced it to "Home" concerts. Bandcamp was actually the minor new music outlet; Soundcloud has/had many, many times more unsigned bands but since it has yet to get users to pay for it in significant numbers its presence is always not to be taken for granted. It always seems to be for sale.

The biggest loss of music so far was with MySpace. When Facebook took over the field, it had already been acquired by Rupert Murdock as an investment. It tanked and he ended up selling it for something like ten cents on the dollar, but when FB took the traffic from everyone else, all the musicians had stayed. It was where musicians both released their work (including many recorded bands in Europe and elsewhere who were not represented in the US) and took advantage of their platform/service to archive their recordings for storage. It seemed a good deal for the less well financed musicians. Eventually disaster struck. The buyer that acquired MySpace from Murdock actually wanted it for something other than a social media platform and during a server migration all the music was lost. Very suspicious because it saved the owner a lot of expense and bother.

So what was lost? The Mother Lode of independent band music. Fifty million songs by fourteen million bands. Sometime later a few
percent of it was discovered catched offsite, no thanks to the site owner, but everything else was lost for good.

Interestingly, one famous musician did quite well re: the Tiny Desk Home concerts. Dua Lipa put together a very well made one and it kept her in the public eye during the lockdowns when she could not tour. It was a win-win for her. Like her music or not, she is immensely talented and she actually came off better in the stripped down configuration than the light Pop she performs at concerts with dancers and a big band. She has never sounded better.

Quote:

---

Bandcamp was actually the minor new music outlet; Soundcloud has/had many, many times more unsigned bands but since it has yet to get users to pay for it in significant numbers its presence is always not to be taken for granted. It always seems to be for sale.

---

Hello

How do you get downloads of files?? It's great for streaming but not if you want anything beyond MP3 how do you source them on that platform??

Is it a Premium feature to be able to download files??? Am I missing something??

Rob :)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Robh3606

Hello

How do you get downloads of files?? It's great for streaming but not if you want anything beyond MP3 how do you source them on that platform??

Is it a Premium feature to be able to download files??? Am I missing something??

Rob :)

---

It is complicated (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SoundCloud) but Soundcloud is, for users, a streaming service. It has options for musicians providing content, but streaming by nature does not offer downloads except to be stored on a streaming device and played back by their own software. Amazon Music HD, for instance, does not sell content outright but Amazon retail does. I do not think Soundcloud has an associated store of any sort, but I do not know. It nonetheless is a huge business.

Buying music for me is an old school channel and I still prefer buying directly from the artists, but it depends if the artist's website handles the sales or farms it out to a third party vendor. In the first case the money goes right to the musician, and many will sign any purchases even (in some cases) without being asked to. The closer the online operation is to a merch table the better I like it. I am poor but music is very important to me and there is no better use for my money than supporting musicians I like. If you dare, check out what it is really like to be in an unsigned band in this excellent documentary from Toronto. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DBsh087l6E) If you have heard of a musician, they are already further along than nearly all ever get.

Still, while always possessing physical media is the ideal, not all streaming services are as bad as Spotify about compensating artists and hearing their work online does allow for a much larger selection to enjoy than anyone could otherwise manage or afford. I suspect Bandcamp and Soundcloud are much, much more responsive to the needs of musicians than the major streamers are. Of the big commercial streamers, Napster (Rhapsody Inc.) has always paid better. This all matters to me because I listen to mostly newer music, probably not a pattern likely common here.