Will music streaming overtake music ownership?

It'll never die buddy. It'll always be best for ipods and such.

 

I think it will be streaming with some people wanting their favorites on vinyl...I already know a guy who buys vinyl and doesn't even own a turntable. There is something about the physical artifact that can't be replaced, and in that department cd's don't hold a candle to lp's. For most stuff, though, it will be streaming. Both quality and selection can only improve over time, it's almost a given that it's headed that way.

 

A technology is considered alive and well because it works best on... Ipods?

 

True - but if one never had the experience of owning much physical product to begin with...[/QUOTE

 

via no chicken?

 

Yes. Convenience always wins over the masses.

 

It very well could. That's something I would have thought unthinkable even a short time ago. But then I realized my relationship with video media has changed. I'm perfectly happy streaming movies on-demand. In fact, for the vast majority of movies, it's my favorite way to enjoy them. There's very few movies that I care to watch more than once. The theatre experience can be very uneven (it only takes one person kicking my chair to completely ruin a $12 experience). In fact, unless I want to watch a movie more than 3x in my entire lifetime, ownership doesn't make sense.

Now being a musician, I absolutely want to own the music I love. It's a priority for me. But I think the vast majority of folks are perfectly happy streaming, letting someone else curate their experience, being tossed about by whatever winds of popular flavor du jour music happens to blow their way. I will never be happy with that, but I think I am an outlier.

So I'm glad that my personal listening library is largely complete, except for new releases. The only time I replace back catalog music is when a hi-res version becomes available, and then only if it truly sounds better. Oh, I should probably mention that while I own the music I love, I don't retain physical media. Ever.

 

To me, it's kind of like renting vs. owning... one of the problems I have with streaming services is the constant waste of bandwidth (and associated cost). The subscription may cost X, but then there may be data charges in addition. I have no problem paying for music, but I'm not a fan of paying ISP's any more than I have to.

I tend to listen repeatedly to certain music (new releases, favorite artists, etc), and in those cases it makes sense to own the media. For checking out new stuff or just for random listening, streaming can make sense.

 

Streaming is about control. They'll offer what they want. That song/artist/album you loved to listen to is now off the service. Sorry.

 

I understand this that scenario works for you. I stream music that I own in my car every day through the cloud. I have 25,000 songs at my disposal. Later on, I play them via CD or again through the cloud. I don't have to rely on streaming services as my sole source; I have all the control I need.

 

I think it is inevitable. A lot of people will find that they enjoy music just fine without owning a physical copy, and many of the next generation will know no other way of listening to music. But I expect that eventually there will be higher quality options for streaming, so that will alter the grim picture slightly.

 

I think more and more music collectors will become aware that buying music (CDs or downloads) doesn't make sense economically, as the chance of a purchased album being listened to multiple times gets smaller as the collection gets bigger. Better just buy access to a much larger collection and not worry about buying and storing.

 

I think perhaps there is a third option besides just streaming and just owning physical media... you own the music but you don't have physical media and you don't stream. That's my situation. I know there are folks who believe that I don't really "own" my music because "all I have is a sound file, which is ephemeral."

That's total BS. Trust me, my personal sense of ownership is just as profound and real today as when I had large vinyl and CD collections. All that is missing is the nuisance of physical media. I absolute own the music I love. I just don't care to pay someone else to push what they think I should be listening to onto my devices.

 

I think downloading is just dandy. The music is yours forever as long as you do proper backups. I can't imagine depending on a streaming service to always have available what I want to hear.

 

I understand what you mean in your title of this thread, but even when you have a CD, download, or any other physical copy, you don't own what's on it. Streaming won't change that. There's also a long ways to go before streaming becomes the dominant form of delivery of music (if it ever does because something else could come along that's better).

 

For the masses: Yes. It already has in Sweden and a few other countries. Audiophiles and collectors will continue to buy physical media. Vinyl will attract hipsters and culture vultures.

 

What could more advanced than streaming music online? The technical options of sending music to a consumer are not endless.

 

True, that's a middle way but I think even that will become largely eclipsed by streaming in the near future. People are going to easily find that paying $10 a month for streaming their choice of thousands of albums is more attractive than paying $10-$30+ for digital downloads, or even buying used media and ripping it.

 

This Reminds me I should get dad into putting mp3s on his phone because his car won't play the discs. Or maybe I should just get him into Spotify and he can either stream or sync the music as he sees fit.

 

Will streaming overtake physical ownership? NEVER. The only reason I DL something it goes onto my phone and is purely for convenience, like when I am out walking Obi my Beagle.

 

Did people think there would be CDs in the future in 1973? Did people think music downloads could be possible in 1983? Did we think streaming music could be possible in 1989? No. No one had thought of those things yet. I imagine that delivery of music will shift to something more advanced than streaming, and none of us are smart enough to even dream about what that might be.

 

It's true that most of us will never "own" any music. But if we have it on our hard drive or on any sort of physical media, it is ours to enjoy forever. Streaming is ephemeral and intrinsically worthless.

 

I appreciate streaming/YouTube as a preview. Kinda like those headphone listening stations that they used to have in music stores. I can get a good sense of the album from that. But then if I like it, I buy the album.

I'll echo some of the points above. My two biggest concerns are a.) I have no control over the master/pressing/version I get when I stream. What if I prefer the mid-90s remixes of The Who, but the streaming service only offers the original mixes? What if I prefer MJ's Bad with the original mixes before they updated them in 1987? I'm positive the streaming service will only offer the updated/shortened mixes. Etc etc. And this goes for mastering as well. AF and MFSL masters won't be on the streaming service. Green Day's American Idiot will be the distorted and hard limited redbook copy, not the better sounding, un-limited HD Tracks remaster...

And that's not even to mention some of the logistical problems, licensing deals ending ("I listened to Pink Floyd yesterday, why are all their albums gone today?") and the quality (I want lossless, always).

 

Especially if the service providing the streaming doesn't work for even a day. What I meant by "own" was from an intellectual property standpoint. You can own a CD, but what's on the CD isn't yours unless you own the copyright for the composition and the master tape.

 

I recently lost a computer and came to appreciate the benefits of the iTunes download - all the music I had downloaded was still there. I've had cd's get lost or damaged, not to mention to wear and tear on vinyl, especially if it's played a lot while extremely wasted

That said, I've no doubt that in the fine print is a clause that iTunes can take all that music away without warning and make you rebuy it.

Surely there will be deluxe streaming services in the future that will have extraordinary collections, including all the different mixes and remasterings ever done, otherwise unreleased live shows, outtakes, the works.

I just hope artist compensation eventually catches up without making the whole thing too expensive. As stated by someone above, with no physical product to manufacture, ship and stock they should be able to keep prices very reasonable and have everyone, including the artist, make a decent cut. I'm not holding my breath, though.