Do you still buy music or do you only stream?

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by bherbert, Sep 15, 2018.

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  1. bherbert

    bherbert Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    South Africa
    Are you buying music, streaming, both or neither?
     
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  2. I still buy music, but I also have a Spotify account to check out new music or just to listen to something I find worth a listen but not necessarily worth a purchase. Also, my collection of CDRs and digital files has been moved to my NAS to stream from my mediaserver. I'm glad I don't have to choose between one or the other.
     
  3. Phil Tate

    Phil Tate Miss you Indy x

    Location:
    South Shields
    If I'm paying money, I want a physical thing.
     
  4. blehman

    blehman Forum Resident

    Location:
    Milwaukee, WI. USA
    Streaming for me is convenient, BUT.......

    I still believe in buying physical product. I agree with previous post that if I am paying money I want something to hold on to. I don't even really like downloading for a variety of reasons. A CD? I can take it from car to home to office in a relatively uncomplicated manner.
     
  5. egebamyasi

    egebamyasi Forum Resident

    Location:
    Worcester, MA
    A Spotify premium account is the price of one new physical product a month. I can play almost anything I want in my car or outside or wherever I go (tailgating at a concert, party, etc.).
    No downloading files or storage issues.
    I love it. It's one of the greatest things ever invented.
    I still buy records and compact discs to play at home.
    But I can also listen to things I would never think of buying.
     
  6. gary191265

    gary191265 Forum Resident

    Location:
    UK
    I stream it/torrent it...if I like it, I buy it. It's been like that for about 15 years now.

    Gone are the days that I bought albums off the back of a decent single, to then discover the rest of the album was ****e!
     
  7. McLover

    McLover Senior Member

    I buy music. If something makes me curious, I listen to it on YouTube or hear samples on Amazon, then if I like it, I buy it. No downloads, physical only (prefer vinyl where possible)
     
    Last edited: Sep 15, 2018
  8. brownsound2112

    brownsound2112 Forum Resident

    Physical. Always physical.
     
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  9. Sevoflurane

    Sevoflurane Forum Resident

    Apple Music is useful on my phone, and useful for finding new stuff, but if I find something I like i'll be wanting to buy either the CD or, increasingly, a FLAC download. Where possible, I try and get stuff from an artist's own website rather than Amazon, too. Feels like the right thing to do.
     
  10. YardByrd

    YardByrd rock n roll citizen in a hip hop world

    Location:
    Europe
    I only buy music - hard copy only. Don't stream. Will watch videos or performances on YouTube.
     
  11. ggg71

    ggg71 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Boston, MA
    But buy buy!!! :)

    Mostly vinyl. Occasionally I’ll want a couple of songs for the gym and I’ll just buy those on my phone via iTunes.

    As long as you don’t go crazy - music/movies are a pretty cheap hobby.
     
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  12. mwheelerk

    mwheelerk Sorry, I can't talk now, I'm listening to music...

    Location:
    Gilbert Arizona
    Streaming is really a godsend to me for the discovery of new music. It was never easier to learn and find music. CD are the primary source of my music library.
     
  13. Fab Four Revolution

    Fab Four Revolution Forum Resident

    Location:
    New Zealand
    I used to buy, now I just stream. Don't really see the point in buying individual albums anymore, especially with how convenient and reasonably priced streaming is.
     
  14. Collapsed Lung

    Collapsed Lung Forum Resident

    Location:
    New York, NY
    Streaming sure is convenient, but it is an entirely irresponsible way to consume music. It has been shown time and time again that artists' royalties on streams are a minuscule fraction of what they receive on physical product and traditional airplay...I stream to sample, but if I hear something I like, I go out of my way to buy a physical product (preferably directly from the artist or label) and/or see the artist in concert.

    The dismal compensation provided by streaming services will likely put full-time artists and labels out of business in another generation or two. I certainly see it in my own royalty statements: If I get 10,000 streams, I make as much as I do from selling SIX CDs for $10 each at gigs. That's ridiculous. Song and album downloads provide pretty good money, but those are fading in the face of streaming. Fortunately touring income has stayed strong, and film/tv placements are still an option, but streaming decimates an entire revenue stream that was once pretty fruitful...

    So...streaming is convenient, but it comes at a price to artists, songwriters, and labels. Keep that in mind.
     
  15. libertycaps

    libertycaps Forum Resident

    Location:
    Portland, OR, USA
    If music is like food, then streaming is eating at McDonalds every single day. The only streaming service i still have access to is Pandora. I make better Artist mixes from my personal collection.
    The selection and sound quality of Pandora is fair to poor. I still buy new to me music on CD or LP.
     
  16. Terrapin Station

    Terrapin Station Master Guns

    Location:
    NYC Man/Joy-Z City
    First, a huge percentage of what I owned was always bought second-hand (or simply given to me in some cases), so for most of my collection, artists never made any money off of me owning their music. Also, once blank tapes were cheap, I owned a lot of stuff via tape trading/sharing with friends.

    Once file sharing was feasible online, I moved primarily to that.

    Now I mostly use streaming. So at least now artists are making some money off of my listening, rather than making nothing.

    Still, I do buy some things, if I can't acquire the music any other way and I can either buy a download or a CD, but I try to avoid having to do that. Often I'll just say, "I don't need to hear this that badly."
     
  17. Django

    Django Forum Resident

    Location:
    Dublin, Ireland
    I use streaming to preview & discover music I am thinking of buying. I have the free spotify account. I buy CDs (mostly) & vinyl. I can't see myself paying for streaming.
     
  18. Evan L

    Evan L Beatologist

    Location:
    Vermont
    No streaming for me(though I do listen to music online)>
     
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  19. Night Beat

    Night Beat Well-Known Member

    I fall under the "both" category. Generally if I'm on the road for work I stream because my work van only has auxillary inputs. If I'm in my personal vehicle its CD or flac on SD. If I'm at home its 95% vinyl/cd. I basically buy a physical copy of any album I truly enjoy.
     
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  20. DML71

    DML71 Forum Resident

    Location:
    UK
    I'm sorry to hear that streaming is not paying off for you. Out of interest what value would you place on 10,ooo streams? Do you see it as 10,000 lost singles not bought?

    To try and put a positive spin on it see it as 10,000 people sampling your music and possible future purchases of a CD or 10,000 possible future gig goers?
     
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  21. All Down The Line

    All Down The Line The Under Asst East Coast White Label Promo Man

    Location:
    Australia
    I only buy music, i do stream in the little boys room though.
     
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  22. Exit Flagger

    Exit Flagger Forum Resident

    Location:
    New York
    I find it hard to believe someone who "never" streams. You never watched a video on YouTube? Listened to an advance stream on a web site? Clicked on a music link anywhere online ever? Impressive.
     
  23. detroit muscle

    detroit muscle MIA

    Location:
    UK
    I think in the context of the question 'streaming' means a paid subscription to Apple music, Tidal, cloud based music files or the like as a alternative to playing a disc or music file you own on site.
     
  24. Erik Tracy

    Erik Tracy Meet me at the Green Dragon for an ale

    Location:
    San Diego, CA, USA
    I listen to my favorite station via CCA and a browser session using the station's Listen Live feature.

    Sometimes, I'll listen to a youtube video posted here.

    Other than that - physical media for serious listening on the rig.
     
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  25. gary191265

    gary191265 Forum Resident

    Location:
    UK
    So, if they'd listened to it via an advanced stream, YouTube, or an alternative link and thought it was rubbish, did they still buy it?
     
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