The Pros and Cons Of Streaming

These entities are players in the corporate world where acquisitions, takeovers & buyouts are being discussed, being negotiated or happening on a daily basis.
Currently we see a world dominated by 4 record companies, 2 beer companies, 2 supermarket chains (in Australia) so how long before we see consolidation in the streaming sector.
Just like the sun rises in the East sets in the West we will see less players in the streaming sector, higher prices & significant advertisment intrusion.

 

The concept that music should be free is not new. The hippies in the late 60's were firm believers in that concept. Many a large music festival was marred by gatecrashers.

 

I'm sure you're right, I was just trying to be optimistic.

 

Current Tidal Hi Fi in Australia $23.99 per month

 

Yeah it's like $20 here in the USA.

 

This is a post that resonates strongly with me. My interest in streaming is on the rise.

My wife & all 3 kids + their wifes & partners all stream. I'm not sure any of them subscribe. Maybe it's time for this old codger to move into the 21'st century.
I can't envisage that streaming will take over from my CD boying & listening but I can see it playing a part in music discovery & purchase strategy.

 

I am one of those guys that lived and died by streaming. I thought it was the greatest thing ever. Pandora was my best friend for the longest time.

Now, however, I am buying more CD's than I did in their heyday. The prices are fantastic and if they are well taken care of, they will last for a long time. Do I listen to digital music? Of course I do. I rip my cds and play them on my tablet or my phone, which I can hook up to my stereo.

 

Thanks David. Your real life experience reinforces stories that I have often heard & read about.
Often the record companies themselves are beneficiaries of the .006 cents distrubution.
Corporate greed is an ever growing world wide problem.
I'm not sure that artists are even getting peanuts. Discarded peanut shells more like it.
I recall a parable about a goose that laid golden eggs

 

It's ironic but those cable stations will be forced to lower their prices or may even be financially forced out of business due to streaming.

 

The radio uses the songs (paid for at a meagure royalty rate) to lure in the 1 million listeners. It the uses that statistic to leverage advertisers who attempt to market their goods to those listeners.

Without a connect between the listeners purchasing product (singles, albums.cd's etc) from the artists the artists become the loser in the now broken chain.
Streaming is breaking the links all along this chain.
Soon the advertisers will dump the radio stations & move onto the streaming platform, radio stations will close & you will be hearing the adverts through your now more expensive streaming service.

 

I believe cable will get cheaper and streaming will get more expensive. They will duke it out somewhere in the middle.

 

I can't see cable surviving.

 

You could be right but it is heavily entrenched. I’m not much of a TV guy but the real hardcore TV watchers I know are still using both. I think they still rely on cable for everyday viewing.

The less frequent TV viewers have embraced all-streaming 0nly early on.

 

Mainstream terrestrial TV stations must also be hurting from falling viewer numbers & the resulatant fall in advertising revenue.
In the future people will look back at streaming as a huge change in economic & social structure much in the same way we look back at the arrival of the internet.

 

Competition is always a good thing.

 

That's really not accurate at all - records went out of print. All the time. Good luck finding them without the Internet...lots of mail order catalogs and long-distance calls, depending on how obscure the record was and how badly you wanted it. I definitely remember those days and I do not miss them.

This was also the case well into the heyday of CD's, where if one wanted to replace their old LP with a CD version, you could wait a decade or longer for the label to finally re-release it. If they ever did. It was one of the reasons why I eventually starting ripping my vinyl to digital files...there are still a number of LP's I own that have never had a CD or digital download release, to this day.

 

Yes but in absolute numbers of viewers I think the major networks still kill every other option. I think that will persist for decades and maybe forever. Fragmentation of the audience reduces profitability, although it can be more tightly targeted. Sort of like this site, people who linger here really care about recorded music reproduction and mastering.

Wellcone to music-reproduction geek land.

 

100% agree. If I like something and think it's going to stick around for the long-term, I'm going to purchase it. CD, LP or a download - just something that exists locally.

I treat streaming no different than Netflix or Amazon Prime Video, in that regard. Assume that the item in question may not be on the service in a year, and if that would bother you or not.

 

On a decent system you can trust me.

 

It's not about hardcore TV watching; keeping cable is all about convenience. No multiple apps to launch, no multiple sign-on's, no channel surfing. Same for streaming. It's very convenient as you have no more downloads, no more ripping, no more playlist management, no more syncing devices.

Convenience. People will pay for the easier solution with the better user experience.

 

I have streamed since the beginning but it hasn’t replaced my CD/Sacd/etc buying and ripped pc audio system. I now mostly stream for mobility.

Cons
- albums have disappeared.
- tracks missing
- no control on version
- no art or liner notes beyond cover.
- no ownership - goes away when you stop paying
- no collecting fun

I think a good model is hybrid. Buy known favs and special versions supplemented by exploration, mobility and casual consumption of most albums via streaming

I am way past that model though

 

Yeah, the radio station pays you NOTHING unless you have songwriting credit...well, at least in the USA, how about other locales? I'll also not SiriusXM satellite radio pays out a chunk of royalties.

 

You're a little behind, that was Napster, which in Russian translates to "I'm Gonna Get You[ur data] Sucka"

 

I skipped about 8 pages so sorry if I'm being redundant to something that's been said earlier...but a BIG loss during the modern era (even cd's but even moreso streaming) is how the medium is no longer how the art was intended to be heard. 1st song of side two was a leadoff, each side had it's own flow, and a dynamic between them. I'm talking about the golden age of the rock lp here, naturally.

 

Streaming removes the physical component of holding a hard copy of a particular piece of music and that reminds me of the film "Demolition Man," which tells the story of an elitist/fascist Orwellian society in the future where citizens are required to make love using virtual reality headsets.

"Demolition Man" is an enjoyable film starring Sylvester Stallone and Wesley Snipes