Parting with CDs

I'd have loved streaming too when I was young. I've always been fascinated by music and was reading about it when I was very young. As well as all my friends, I used to borrow or tape their parents collections! They had great original 60s records. I do think that the vast amount of choice would probably stopped me devoting the amount of time to each individual album though. I remember fondly when a friend came to school and had been given an original Are You Experienced from one of his friends parents. We'd been after it for ages and played it so much, including Third Stone From The Sun on 78! We're still friends, still love Hendrix and he still has the record. Instant gratification is all well and good, but can lead to great work being taken by granted.

 

consume but never digest

 

"Streaming" is a social network. No different than YouTube (Bieber) or American Idol (Underwood).

You may not realize, but teens are sharing Spotify playlists that they have hand-curated just like we traded our cassette mixtapes back in the 80's. That's a huge part of the traction these services are getting. "Hey guys, you should pull down Sal's Heavy Metal Playlist....this kid from another high school just linked it on Instagram and the sh-t's the bomb". Artists discovered via YouTube go viral and get big record contracts and kids building custom playlists via Spotify go viral and help build their personal brands.

Hey, I'm a bit of an oldster too, but at least I understand the technology I'm talking about. Some of you folks really really need a free trial Spotify or Apple Music subscription. Seriously.

 

He peddled this argument in another thread. It sounds so similar I'm sure it was him. It didn't get much traction there either.

 

This is true. Before any of these services no artists broke big ever. Not sure how anyone made any money before streaming showed up.

 

The big acts make big money. The little acts are getting exposure opportunities they haven't had before which will help them become a big act and make big money. If they never become a big act, the argument is moot, its no different than Band X playing at the local bowling alley trying to build a physical audience.

 

I wouldn't bother trying to debate the issue with him. Judging by his responses he has no idea how things really work and probably got most of his info from a typical documentary where there's the bit about the bad manager and bad label that ripped off the artist. You won't get anything but more nonsense out of this.

 

Because if you part from CD's and intend to listen to new music a Streaming service is your only rational solution. The two go hand in hand.

As for compensation, that conversation will always arise when Streaming is discussed. So much misinformation and misunderstanding.

 

I'm your age and I'm not worried about 'new music' because I think rock/alternative has been bad for a decade and I don't have high hopes for a comeback. So I'm discovering new 'old music' like bands from the 70's thru 90's that I didn't bother with back then. And so Streaming has been a revelation for me. I get all the artists I've always loved, I get to delve deeply into their back catalogs and I get to discover bands that I never considered years ago.

And my old CD collection still has great value as it's been ripped to 20,000 songs neatly organized, properly genre'd, given correct album art, and organized into playlists that I listen to when I'm not in the mood for streamed content.

 

Well that's not me.I'm totally O.K with streaming,but it's not for me.Hate is a very strong and emotive word in the context of this conversation.

As regards my favourite artists and their financial wellbeing.I think they do O.K.Some of the more obscure ones may be struggling,but I don't think it has anything to do second-hand sales.More to do with not enough first-hand ones!

 

I think this is every bit as valid as a massive collection of vinyl or CDs. It's just personal choice of how to access and enjoy music, nothing more. I never have and can't see that I'll ever listen to music seriously through a PC, laptop, or tablet and only use a mobile for music on long coach journeys. I associate that kind of technology with offices and work and don't want it associated with my passion. To me, music doesn't belong on a menu! But it's all personal choice and the end result is pretty much the same.

 

He sure has got a very large bee in his bonnet.

 

I will say that reading parts of this thread have encouraged me to order another 500 CD gatefold sleeves from Bags Unlimited to further consolidate my collection.

 

I spent half an hour in the local supermarket's "Culture" branch (books, DVDs, hi-fi, electrical, toys,...). This ain't a serious media outlet but it was interesting to see what's dribbling down. Quite a good little vinyl selection with tempting re-releases of classic rock, jazz, R&B, R&R, you name it, with many at only 10 euros. Impossible to know if these are quality pressings of course and you can bet that a lot of (or most) people buying this stuff don't have a high-end rig. In that respect, what a joke it is. Sounds "better" my ass. Equivalent CD versions were at 4 or 7 euros. Not a "hip" format at the moment but obviously the way to go.
I didn't buy anything because I have everything now. Funny old world we live in. CDs rule.

 

Well, again we're still comparing apples
and oranges. I managed to keep my vinyl
in excellent condition for 30 years, until
I sold it. If I'd have kept it, I'm sure I'd
still be enjoying it today. So the idea that
vinyl recordings are any different than
CDs isn't a valid point of ethical
differentiation. I'm not saying that the
idea of considering music as a "utility"
as you stated, versus music as a physical
product isn't valid - it is, though I don't
subscribe to the position that
commodities become unethical in
principle out of arbitrary or subjective
remedy. And while I don't have
anything against streaming in the
context of a capitalist economic system,
I do not subscribe to Marxian economic
theory, much less when established
inequitably across socioeconomic strata.

 

I understand the technology, and I use youtube for research and such, but I see no long term benefit to Music, from it. Lot of short term benefit for users, that will turn into a nightmare down the track, and lots of benefits for the corporations. I do not have techno-fear, I have a realistic observational perspective of how these things go.

 

I have no problem with that at all.
It is the long term for Music itself that concerns me... and I may well be wrong, but the business model would suggest otherwise

 

There’s never been a better time to buy CDs. So if the writer of that article doesn’t want his...

...I could possibly take some off his hands. Cheap, of course.

 

Extreme opinions that differ from my own are some of my favorite posts.

 

Nothing against streaming, but I strongly suspect 95% of those households have never heard Mozart.

 

Mozart never received a penny from those recordings. He got ripped off.

 

Streaming already is the lord of the domain.

Yes I know....not with you or the other hundred folks on the forum. I mean the millions of other consumers out there.

 

Back in the 90's when everyone was giving up LPs for CDs at least it was a step up or lateral move at least.
Parting with CDs for lossy streaming is decidedly taking steps down.

 

In a way they do. A $15 CD might give $2.50 to the artist. Say you buy an used copy for $3, then the original owner paid a net $12 and you paid $3 towards the cost of the original CD. Your share of the royalties paid would be 50c.

 

I understand that, by Lord of the domain, I mean the only avenue. I know folks love it, and if I trusted business models to function as they should it is a very useful format.
When music moved from vinyl to cd, it was obvious the next format would eventually be one with no particular moving parts. This particular format I find to be too inline with what corporations will find useful ... I know that sounds somewhat conspiracy theory linked, but I am really not a conspiracy theorist type ... I just don't trust the business model, and the possible, even, very likely outcomes, although they won't effect me much in my lifetime, leave me with a certain amount of apprehension for the future of music ... I certainly hope I am incorrect.