The Pros and Cons Of Streaming

Perhaps it wasn't quite as high as the streaming subscriptions are today, but it was still a big chunk of the pie if you go back to 2013.


Granted, the pie above probably includes streaming under the digital category, but I have to think it was fairly small back then.


The reason that companies like Netflix are able to sustain price increases is because of their exclusive content. You can't switch to Hulu and get the same content. The music services are (for the most part) offering the same exact music. I'm not sure if consumers would ever accept the concept of having to subscribe to multiple providers just to get all the music. I do think we'll see some market consolidation at some point as I don't see Apple, Spotify, Google and Amazon all continuing to lose money on music.

 

Apple have long marketed themselves as the user / environment / ease of use / etc / friendly alternative to the brutal alternatives in the corporate dog eat dog world.
What a load of rubbish. Big bad wolves in lovely little lamb clothing iss what they are. They are a company deeply involved in what is in reality a global tax scam.
The are heavily involved in market price fixing. They sell their ridiculously overpriced products to gullable suckers who fall for their marking claptrap.

 

Artists have been pushing for a bigger share for years. I'll tell you why progress hasn't happened and isn't about to happen. Because tons of artists enter the industry and (due to lack of quality output and a fickle public that hardly needs new music in this age of so many entertainment options, much by stream) fewer and fewer become long-burning stars. Bargaining power is almost nada.

 

Well, streaming has only been a big part of the music business for the last 4 years, so there really hasn't been much to fight over before then. Also, before they the fight was taking place in an over all environment of massive contraction, during the period from the late '90s, and the rise of the commercial internet, to a few years ago, revenue in the U.S. recorded music industry fell by half, and the entire industry was more in hang-on-for-dear-life mode than plenty-to-go-around mode. But yes, I don't think artists have much leverage either because their contracts are individually bargained -- how many artists who do have leverage have ever negotiated terms for the benefits of other artists or other folks in the chain, like songwriter? Taylor Swift is the only on I can think of in re streaming.

 

Your suggestion is a good one. I use Bluetooth headphones when I'm doing household chores or simply don't want to be annoyed and tethered by a cable. There are many Bluetooth transceivers available today. I recently got an Avontree BTTC-500P-GRY for $69 at Amazon. It covers my average size house with no problem and has both analog and optical inputs and outputs.

 

Just remember with Bluetooth, unless you're using something like the aptX codec (at both the transmitter and receiver end), you're probably not transmitting even redbook CD quality signal, but a compressed, bandwidth limited signal. It's OK for convenience listening (I use Bluetooth in the car listening to 320kbps streams from Spotify, I wouldn't know the difference with road noise etc.). But if you want to listen to higher resolution streaming at home, Bluetooth probably isn't going to be your preferred connection type.

 

Music streaming has a far worse carbon footprint than the heyday of records and CDs – new findings

Streaming and downloads causing 'highest music-related carbon emissions in history'

More proof that streaming music is worse for the planet than CDs and vinyl records - A Journal of Musical Things

 

The pro for me is being able to go down any rabbit hole that I want to go down. Recently I've found myself interested in how the heck QUEEN got to making an album like HOT SPACE. Now I can listen to that album and other songs around those eras and figure it out.

The con? I am getting way used to hearing bad quality music.

 

Not surprising. It's amazing how many people streaming services are better for the planet than physical distribution. There'll be cases on both sides, but many streaming services are quite costly environmentally speaking.

The other interesting thing (well, to me) is that there are relatively few vendors who can support the likes of Spotify. So for example, Spotify is actually hosted by Google's Cloud services, as is anything Apple related......

 

I changed my BT receiver from an older Logitech one to a generic receiver, but with the latest Qualcomm Audio SoC (the CSR8675) with aptX. I mostly stream Spotify now from an Asus tablet to my amplifier via the new BT receiver. The difference is discernible. You have to ensure your portable device is also compatible with aptX (see below), to maximise the audio benefits. BTW the receiver was a lot less than the $69 mentioned above - Chinese design, but you can't go wrong since the Qualcomm chip does everything.

CSR8675 | Qualcomm

Qualcomm® aptX™ Automotive | Bluetooth® Car Stereos & Receivers

 

Con - I've been without internet since Saturday, and they're only going to get it back up Tuesday .... I will never rely on streaming. It is the second time in six months ... That will never be acceptable to me. If I want to listen to something, It needs to be on my shelf.

 

Yup, if you have unreliable home internet access or cellular internet access, streaming is not going to work for you. Personally, around here, internet access is very, very reliable. The only time I ever have internet access go down is when there's a major power outage and power generally has gone down, which obviously takes out the ability to listen to the stereo too.

 

I'll add that if for some reason that I lost internet at home and over the phone or hotpot, I think I could make it few days without streaming music or tv programming. Last time I checked, the radio still worked and the public library still existed.

 

I’m not going to the library each time I want to listen to something!

 

That's fair.
I give less than a hairy rabbit's butt about tv or streaming movies ... I have plenty of physical product to enjoy, if I want to watch something.
I am more into music, if I was a streamer, I would be screwed. I shouldn't have to go to the library to listen to music when I have been buying it for most of fifty years .... now in forty years time if physical media does get the boot in the near future, even if folks have been stockpiling their stream lists ... everyone will be stuffed when there is a breakdown, and it is more common than many try to make out, and service industries have steadily been getting worse, not better ... in fact I would suggest, Much worse

Oh and I haven't listened to radio in twenty plus years, it is horrendous

 

One flaw in the above chart, if you read the article it comes from, is that it does not factor in the environmental impact of shipping CDs or LPs (or shipping returns from retail -- we're talking about a lot of truck rolls, maybe even plane flights, etc), nor of storing them at retail or wholesale with climate control, so it's not really an apples to apples comparison of the carbon footprints of the formats, if such a comparison were even possible.

 

Radio still exists?? I think i'd almost rather have silence than commercials and Coldplay.

I always get a phone with a decent amount of storage space have a few gigs of tunes saved to it, just in case. Once I switched to an unlimited data plan, it's not something I end up needing very often, but it's a nice feature, and can quiet the "what if you're lost in the woods with no internet and somehow aren't the plot of a bad horror movie?" crowd.

 

I have the same problem. I recently bought a car that does not have a cd player so I had to join a streaming service. Because the potential selection is practically limitless, I also find myself thinking of what to play next. Oftentimes I get impatient with what I've selected and instead of listening to a complete album, I listen to a couple of songs and switch to something else. We've all had the experience of not liking something right away but coming around to it after numerous playings. With streaming I don't give it a chance because its easier to just move on to something else. There is almost too much choice.

 

Yeah, these stats seem really suspect (especially since the cited source is "forthcoming.") Carbon footprint of data centers is something to be concerned with, but also I'm not sure how one arrives at a number specifically for music (vs. video streaming, general web traffic, etc). And also thus the elimination of both plastic waste and labels forcing $14.99 for one or two good songs is something to be celebrated. There's no perfect solution here.

 

I meant to get a book. There are other ways to spend your time.

Fair enough. Our local, listener supported classical station is quite nice though.

 

I still have music on when I read, but okay, valid point.

That's great you have a good public classical station. I don't think we really have that here. But I'd still need to rock out, even in a power outage, and the options for that here are...depressingly bad.

 

My HomePod and Apple Music streaming has changed Modern Dad's life.

 

I have yet to grasp this POV...."there's too much choice". It's like getting lost in the aisles of the local supermarket because there's simply too much food there. Or flipping through hundreds of cable channels and never being able to just stop and watch something.

It's again a question of self control and focus. I am well aware that I have a gazillion songs at my fingertips. I have tens of thousands just in my local media library. But when I hook onto an album, then that's where my focus is. The other stuff just takes a backseat for a little while...it will still be there when I'm done.

 

And yet you're posting here.

What kind of voodoo magic is this.

 

Hot spot.