Is everyone using music subscription services these days?

Then I find Google Play to be completely worthless. Thank you.

 

I haven't been shocked by this forum in quite some time.

Must be getting numb to this stuff now.

 

I use (free) Spotify to try-before-I-buy. I also figure I should stream albums I buy used at least a few times so the artist gets some revenue but I'd never be able to stream it enough times that they got revenue comparable to if I bought the physical media new.

 

No.

 

Can you help me understand how or why that might be?

 

$12K for a million streams sounds like highway robbery to me.

 

My response to @johnebravo's post was purely conjectural, as per my use of the word 'hypothetical' (not quoted). Turns out the post to which I replied was in jest, and I had figured as much. I do not believe LPs and CDs are going to be replaced by pay-per subscriptions, as I mentioned in another previous post.
Vinyl sales just hit a 25-year high, and while CD sales are temporarily down from the previous year, global profits are still on the order of astronomical ~ there is going to be a cash-in, that I can promise.

 

I certainly see the value in it,
though I did buy all of my DVDs.

 

The only subscription services I use are for video. Specifically I use Amazon Prime....which I guess also can stream music.....

I don't know, when I listen to an album or playlist, I want to listen to it my way! Not whatever mp3, most recently mastered, selection a streaming service provides. Funny I know, since I do stream video...I guess I am just more picky when it comes to music.

 

Not me. No experience with it & no real interest. Heck, right now I'm neglecting my large CD & LP collections to play some of my cassette tapes.

 

Not me, I’m all about physical media’s so when I play the music I can also read the liner notes and stare st the album art. I’m contemplating deleting my files and to re-buy the discs I threw or eBayed or Goodwill’ed

 

I disagree. According to the last three Nielsen Year-End reports, in the US at least physical media and even download sales are shrinking annually at a double digit pace, while streaming is growing a huge clip and now represents more than 50 percent of recorded music revenue.

In 2017 physical album sales -- vinyl and CD -- were down nearly 18% in the US (the growth in vinyl, being such a tiny share of the market, nowhere near offsetting the decline in CD); digital album sales were down almost 20%; but on demand audio streaming was up 58%.

In 2016, physical album sales fell 14% in the US, again with an increase in vinyl not offsetting a decline (16%) in CD sales; with streaming up nearly 40% that year.

Physical media sales declining and CD sales decline is not a blip or a one-year phenomenon. CD sales also were down 17% from 2014 to 2015.

The pace of adoption of paid streaming is accelerating; the decline in physical media and download sales shows no sign of slowing. Vinyl remains a niche market with growth numbers impressive in themselves but so small as not to really move any needle for the industry as a whole or for the average consumer.

Physical media may never disappear entirely. When new media formats arrive, old ones don't always completely disappear -- we still read books, radio is still with us, TV didn't obsolete movies. But sometimes it is like digital cameras and film, or flat screen TVs and CRTs. I think the move away from physical media and to streaming has a bunch of years to run at this very rapid pace, I think we're at the tip of the iceberg in terms of how it is transforming recorded music consumption.

 

a rich man once said,
"give me 1%, a mile-deep".

......and audiophiles still have their systems.

 

Subscription services? No, I stopped using them in the early 1980s. I always felt like I was getting magazines I didn't really want. And I hated those automatic renewals.

 

No music subscription(s) here. It may happen, but I have no plans for it. I am not totally antithetical towards it, but just don't have the need at the moment.

 

Maybe. All I can say is that of the younger people I know personally (i.e., people under the age of 30 -- my kids, my wife's kids, and their friends), none of them would dream of going out and spending money on CDs or (even more absurdly to them) LPs. If they have anything that they actually pay for, it would be a subscription service of one kind or another like Spotify, but they often expect their music to be free. They get music from youtube and maybe P2P services, although I doubt they even bother to illegally download files and share with friends anymore. Downloading would be too much trouble, and you'd have to save and shuffle around files, which seems superfluous when you can just stream them wherever you are. They like music (one is a pretty good musician) but they would never buy any actual hard media to play. They listen to all of their music on smartphones or laptop computers (which usually don't have optical drives to play CDs anymore, even if you wanted to). I have spare stereo equipment lying around and offered to fix them up with a stereo if they wanted one, but they'd rather have something new that wirelessly connects with a smartphone. I think if anyone tried to suggest to them that maybe the sound quality wasn't very good they'd think you were being ridiculous.

This would never be a satisfactory solution for me, but they're not me. In any case, I don't particularly care and it doesn't affect me, but I think it's the way of the future, frankly.

 

Never have. Never will.

 

I don't disagree with this, but I still use Apple Music regularly. The problem with 'just' having my own collection is that it doesn't follow me to my car, to work, on walks, etc etc. I mean, yes, we had mp3 players for years, but it's kind of redundant to take your (overly large, at this point) phone AND an mp3 player everywhere you go.

Apple Music lets you "add to library" exactly as if you bought it on iTunes, then browse that library as if it were your own files. After Rdio shut down, it's the only service that works in exactly this way (with no tiny arbitrary limit on how much you can add). So it's a really nice balance between old and new, for me. When I first subscribed, I spent an hour or two while casually watching sports or something going through and building up a library of everything I knew I wanted, at least to start. So I browse that like I'd browse my Winamp/MediaMonkey/JRiver library files, or browse CD shelves back in the day, till I see something that sounds right. OR, if I really don't know what I'm in the mood for, I just shuffle all 50,000+ tracks until something clicks with my mood, and i'll go play more of that artist.

I agree the connection is different than 15+ years ago, but there's nothing that can be done about that. It's why I still do vinyl and spin my records at home as much as I can. But when I'm not in my basement, it's Apple Music all the way.

 

They do indeed. As an audiophile I find it a bit sad. They don't really care what it sounds like, but that it simply replaces silence with something vaguely recognizable.

 

Most of us here aren't radio show hosts or DJs and I doubt there are many folks on this forum who play their music collections on a public system in a beauty salon or other place of business. As for streaming, I don't know of many streaming services who can guarantee the consumer that rates won't increase in the future. Even if rates don't increase through those services, consumers still pay more when their bandwidth limit is exceeded and that it's not difficult to do if you stream films and shows in addition to music.

 

I have the free Spotify but rarely use it.

 

No packaging for one thing, no liner notes, lyrics and artwork. Degraded sound quality usually, but flac is good. Overabundance of access allowing the listener to move on too easily, without
giving an artists body of work a fair chance. There is a tendency to not appreciate something you don't pay for, which is often the case.

That said, this is my opinion, and I know there are great counter arguments.
There is also what I consider upsides to it all. So not an entirely black and white issue.
The Genie can't go back in the bottle.

 

Another point of conjecture
is what happens to art itself in
a paradigm where permanence has become irrelevant?
Political and social movements have been initiated through artistic expression. When music is reduced to background filler it is in danger of losing its power as art.

 

It's true. I'm in my mind twenties and everyone my age (and a lot of people older for that matter) think I'm a crazy person for buying CDs.

Even my mother-in-law uses Spotify these days...

 

I’ve been using Spotify for years. Mainly for convenience. If I’m able to listen to music while at work for instance, or if I’m going for a run.

With one, and very soon two, small kid(s) I’m in a phase where I very rarely get to sit down an really listen to music. When I do though, it’s vinyl - blu ray concerts - CDs all the way.
Glorious sound compared to streaming

As far as the money goes; it’s insane that I can access a vast library of music for 10 pounds a month. Less than what I paid for one cd when I was 12!!! I totally see the artist’s point of view on streaming.

Having said that, I spend more money on the music business now than I did prior to streaming. If I come across things I like, I often pick up a physical copy of the album. Had it not been for streaming, I doubt I would have ended up with bands like Rival Sons, Scorpion Child, and Inglorious in my vinyl collection!
Furthermore, it has made me go see bands live, pick up a t-shirt....

But that’s me