The Pros and Cons Of Streaming

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by bvb1123, Jan 12, 2019.

Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. Kingsley Fats

    Kingsley Fats Forum Resident

    Not to mention the cover artwork which I often love as much as the music itself. In addition there is much album cover art that I really like regardless of the artist &/or music.
    For me it is all part of the experience.
     
  2. bvb1123

    bvb1123 Rock and Roll Martian Thread Starter

    Location:
    Cincinnati Ohio
    Streaming is not the enemy. The idea of streaming music platforms is awesome. It would be better if it was all like Tidal HiFi in sound quality or Spotify for sheer quantity of music but it's only going to get better (yeah, probably more expensive too). The only other shltty thing is how screwed over the artists are. Maybe that can be fixed too. But as long as I can buy CDs I will.
     
  3. Old Zorki II

    Old Zorki II Storm Watcher

    Location:
    near Tampa, FL
    May be they should have a button similar to "tipping" on Lyft or Uber.. You like the music and can contribute .50 or dollar or whatever you want... I will not be surprised that revenue from this "tipping" can be significant for a lot of artists...
     
  4. Old Zorki II

    Old Zorki II Storm Watcher

    Location:
    near Tampa, FL
    I also like artwork, but with my old eyes CD artwork is all but useless... I often can enjoy more then one which appears on my iPad screen - my streaming controller.
    And nothing beats vinyl artwork still...
     
    bvb1123 likes this.
  5. Witchy Woman

    Witchy Woman Forum Resident

    Location:
    Third Coast, USA
    I don’t know either but it’s fair to say in the past there were artists and record companies who made a lot of money selling albums that many consumers listened to only once or twice, or listened to only 10-20% of the content. It was the consumer who took the chance of losing money back then.
     
    bvb1123 likes this.
  6. plextor

    plextor Forum Resident

    How do you like your Aries? I have a cambridge audio 851n for streaming to my main audio system sounds really good and works we'll but curious as to opinions of other streamers.

    Looks like a good streaming unit.
     
  7. bvb1123

    bvb1123 Rock and Roll Martian Thread Starter

    Location:
    Cincinnati Ohio
    Or somehow hooking it up to a company like Patreon where you can pledge a dollar, five dollars or whatever once a month that would go directly to the artists, like they do with YouTube creators.
     
    Old Zorki II likes this.
  8. If I Can Dream_23

    If I Can Dream_23 Forum Resident

    Location:
    United States
    Yes, definitely. Well said. For me, music product has always been an "artwork in itself", not just an art of expression through sonic notes alone. In the same way, I wouldn't enjoy driving a mere "frame of a car" with just a seat attached to an engine and accelerator. I want to have "the car". :)
     
    Kingsley Fats, no.nine and bvb1123 like this.
  9. bvb1123

    bvb1123 Rock and Roll Martian Thread Starter

    Location:
    Cincinnati Ohio
    I think one thing we definitely want is for Tidal, Spotify, Napster, Google Play, & Amazon Unlimited Music to all stay in business as completely separate entities. The more players in the game, the lower the cost for us. Plus, we don't want a YouTube of streaming music where it's pretty much the only game in town.
     
  10. Old Zorki II

    Old Zorki II Storm Watcher

    Location:
    near Tampa, FL
    I have Aries Femto, which I acquired fairly cheap second-hand several years ago, and they constantly improving software.. Sound as excellent, I actually surprised that it sounded better then my OPPO-105 as streamer... And they also have server software, a little more friendly then Synology native media server or minim (for me).
    Now they even have room correction, dunno how good as it is a bit cumbersome now to use and I did not try...
    Your unit is a little different animal, as it also have build-in DAC, digital inputs, etc..

    My apologies for off topic.
     
    Last edited: Jan 12, 2019
    bvb1123 likes this.
  11. mikedifr0923

    mikedifr0923 Forum Resident

    Location:
    New Jersey
    Agree with you both.

    I am a combination of CDs, vinyl, downloads and streaming. Depends what it is. My favorite artists will always be physical.
     
  12. bvb1123

    bvb1123 Rock and Roll Martian Thread Starter

    Location:
    Cincinnati Ohio
    Yeah, I definitely always buy my favorite artists' music on CD. All the stuff I'd go crazy if I didn't own them and they disappeared off streaming.
     
  13. PacificOceanBlue

    PacificOceanBlue Senior Member

    Location:
    The Southwest
    The fees are ultimately going to have to go up. All of these streaming services are operating in the red. At some point the consumer is going to have to pay a reasonable fee for access to so much content. There are many battles still to be fought. The labels are earning record revenues because of the licensing deals they enter into with the streaming services (many artists are not receiving equitable royalties), and the subscription fees clearly are not covering the overhead and licensing fees the streaming services have to pay. Right now, it is about the subscription numbers, boasting that millions of consumers are using the services. But when people say, "Streaming is a great value, I only pay $10 a month for all this incredible music!" -- all one has to do is look at the numbers to determine that won't last indefinitely.
     
  14. Rob Hughes

    Rob Hughes Forum Resident

    My preference for physical media (CDs, for me) is that streaming media don't really make an impression on me. They're there and then they're gone, in one ear and out the other, whereas if I have sacrificed some money for a specific title and if I have a physical object to show for it, this all roots the music in my memory in a particular way and forces a place for it in my long-term consciousness. But I'm strange that way.
     
  15. bvb1123

    bvb1123 Rock and Roll Martian Thread Starter

    Location:
    Cincinnati Ohio
    Right. That's why it's so important to keep all the streaming services separate. Sure, subscription rates will go up but if there are only 2 streaming services they will skyrocket.
     
  16. Dondy

    Dondy Forumaniac

    My personal 64,000$ quessie: Are there streams that are not lossy?
     
    bvb1123 likes this.
  17. bvb1123

    bvb1123 Rock and Roll Martian Thread Starter

    Location:
    Cincinnati Ohio
    I find myself paying a lot more attention if I'm listening to a CD whereas I usually have Spotify on when I'm doing other things and want music on. Unless I'm listening to something new on Spotify to see if I like it or not. But yeah, I feel like listening to an album is a thing to do instead of watching TV, reading, or playing on my phone.
     
  18. PacificOceanBlue

    PacificOceanBlue Senior Member

    Location:
    The Southwest
    Streaming also devalues music because the revenues do not generate a benefit for artists to create, at least in the way they did in generations past. Artist revenues now are limited, with many relying mostly on personal appearance money to survive. It is very challenging for recording artists and songwriters to earn a living creating sound recordings. Streaming revenues simply do not exist for many artists, unless one is talking about a top-tier A-list artists like Lady Gaga or Taylor Swift. This will continue to be a serious problem for artist development.

    And the reality is that younger generations have grown up not having to pay for music, or just paying very little. Music is an art form that many think should be free. They will pay a couple hundred dollars on concert tickets for a major, commercial artist, but they will not want to pay for access to the sound recordings. It will be very interesting to see where that leads.
     
  19. PacificOceanBlue

    PacificOceanBlue Senior Member

    Location:
    The Southwest
    Even if there are several services, rates will have to go up because the labels still charge a premium in licensing fees. The services are not generating enough revenue from $10-$20 per month subscriptions. The math simply does not work. The idea is that once you get the subscribers and they rely on the service, they will pay higher prices over time (maybe even begrudgingly). But you are also dealing with 2-3 generations of listeners that expect music to be cheap or free, and one suspects they are going to be very hesitant paying over $50 a month for streaming music.
     
    Vinyl_Blues and bvb1123 like this.
  20. bvb1123

    bvb1123 Rock and Roll Martian Thread Starter

    Location:
    Cincinnati Ohio
    Very good points. But I think by now most kids 16-25 are subscribed to a streaming service. My kids do. Of course dad pays for it but they at least understand it's not free. And I think their are plenty of young adults (19 and up) who remember crashing the family computer trying for free downloads on Limewire. I think they're pretty much used to a subscription streaming service and the younger ones, well, it's really all they know.
     
  21. Old Zorki II

    Old Zorki II Storm Watcher

    Location:
    near Tampa, FL
    Tidal Hi-Fi. In fact, they have some records encoded into MQA from hi-rez sources.
     
  22. bvb1123

    bvb1123 Rock and Roll Martian Thread Starter

    Location:
    Cincinnati Ohio
    I would almost bet money that streaming services never go over $20 with maybe $30 for HiFi.
     
  23. Sneaky Pete

    Sneaky Pete Flat the 5 and That’s No Jive

    Location:
    NYC USA
    See above. I’m more concerned about where we end up if we lose control of our data. It’s happening rapidly.

    Streaming in general doesn’t sound very good, but it is convenient. Here in NYC we still have lots of great FM radio.
     
    bvb1123 likes this.
  24. joannenugent

    joannenugent Forum Resident

    Location:
    East Coast USA
    Pros of Streaming:
    1) takes up less space
    2) works everywhere: home, work, car, travel, etc

    Cons of streaming:
    1) lower quality
    2) No Control:
    2a)No control of mastering
    2b) No control of edits, which can change at any time
    2c) No control of content selection/availablility

    In my view having quality and control outweigh the benefits of streaming.
     
  25. PacificOceanBlue

    PacificOceanBlue Senior Member

    Location:
    The Southwest
    And a lot simply go to youtube and stream it for free. Also, subscriptions are very cheap right now, it is generally easy for a parent to pay for a couple of subscriptions, for a total of $40 per month on the high-end. Double that, and suddenly a parent is spending $1200 a year for their kids to stream music. The fees will rise, count on it. The streaming services are keeping the subscription fees low because they don't want consumers to jump ship, but how long can they continue operating like that?
     
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.

Share This Page

molar-endocrine