Streaming: why is it so unsatisfying?

I definitely do. I do playlists of course, they're fun, but full albums is how I listen to music most of the time, regardless of medium.

 

In general, streaming is less personal. Not always. But in general. There’s generally more cognitive and emotional connectivity involved with collecting over a lifetime. Not as much casual dipping and hopping around. It’s not what OTHERS can ever hope to learn from you in viewing your collection. How could they ever BEGIN to put the pieces together? It’s the cognitive and emotional meaning and personal historical connections that only the collector himself can hope to process, decipher, and draw insight and meaning from. Some is conscious, some is semi-conscious, and some is unconscious but still resonates. Not all people are inclined to be, and able to be, streamers just as not all people have an inclination (or ability) to collect.

 

I don't find streaming unsatisfying. If I want to listen to something specific I can do that. If I want background music I can stream.

 

This may the most toxic thread full of fighting on SHTV; and that’s saying something.

 

You're not paying to stream that album. You're paying to stream the hundreds of thousands of records you don't own.

 

Touche.

 

Certainly some streamers listen to whole albums but it seems to me that streaming has made the whole "playlist" thing forward in a big way. Streamers seem to be REALLY into playlists.

 

I listen to specific music with total concentration when I stream.

 

I listen to entire albums in order when I stream.

 

No, they won't. Because at this point the music industry has no choice. Streamers won't go back to commercials. It's akin to asking us to go back to physical discs or downloads. They will just stop listening entirely.

That's the point that most audiophiles miss; they don't understand how unimportant and unessential music has become in the lives of millions of people. Tough to comprehend, I know, but imagine the recording industry announcing in 1990 that CD's were over and they were all rolling back and only releasing cassettes from that point forward. At first there would be outrage. And then people would say, well, I'll just watch more TV or learn to listen to the radio again.

 

I'm talking about growth, not historic levels back in a time before Cable TV, pornography, and video game consoles.

A funny thing happens when a group of people are faced with the choice of taking a 20% paycut or getting no income at all. Especially those who are paid generously for not doing a lot of work for decades. They tend to count their blessings and take what they're given.

 

Just thought I'd quote you because this is required reading.

 

You're forgetting one thing: The artists have no choice. The genie isn't going back in the bottle. 300 million of the biggest music enthusiasts alive are paying $120 a year for on-demand commercial-free streaming and if that's taken away, they are just going to stop buying music and just listen to it for free.

This, the 5th "forum doomsday scenario" of the demise of the streaming industry seeing it reduced to a form of paid radio with commercials takes the cake, is the dumbest one yet.

 

Yes, streamers listen to whole albums. However....

1. About 70% of all streaming sessions are a mood playlist of various artists, or a genre playlist of various artists, top current hits from various artists, or the top songs of a specific artist.

2. As a result of #1, several artists have announced that they are no longer making albums because no one is listening to them. They're releasing singles as they write and record them, or an EP.

The days of consumers paying for filler are over. Because streaming is about a no-filler experience. Between your own playlists and a platform that is learning your preferences every hour of every day, the dream of 'no-duds' is here. Streaming has no commercials and no bad songs. It's a Christmas miracle.

 

I wonder how many of the people who are stating positions against streaming on this thread have ever tried streaming. Some of the comments here do not ring true as to what streaming is like while one is doing it.

 

How can you say that? It's the exact opposite. Your CD player doesn't know you, doesn't know what music you like and dislike, doesn't predict what songs will make you happy and serve them right on time every time.

That's the magic of Streaming. It's your physical collection with intelligence. It's like having a music butler in your house, your own personal disc jockey, spinning a combination of your favorites, the album tracks you own and have forgotten, and his own personal favorites which bring a huge smile to your face and you just love instantly every time they are interjected.

 

Yes, that's the funny thing about these threads. Half the people reciting the boilerplate streaming put-downs haven't tried streaming, there's no way they could have with some of the things they say.