I’ve been reading the posts regarding Qobuz in the US and streaming, and the insights @cookie kindly gave us about the streaming biz. (https://www.psaudio.com/pauls-posts/purity-at-the-source/)
And to say the least, I am touched by the way the business go. As @Paul always says, you have to honor the music. But for me, honouring the music is not simply playing it through a hi-fi equipment, but also to value the work of the people involved in the music chain (beginning with the music artist, and going all the way to the publishers).
And I was moved by @cookie’s plea to “find your favorite artist or music store and buy something today. Download, CD, even mp3. One mp3 sale can make a difference.”
So I wanted to make a proposition. It is not an original prop, and certainly not a new idea (since B&W already have something like this), but anyhow: you could create a subscription to buy music. It would function like a prepaid music acquisition plan, whereby the publishers, as Blue Coast, would select one or two albums per month to forward to the subscribers for download. These would be recordings notable by their sonic “truthfulness”, or by their performance, or historical meaning.
Should you be able to come up with enough publishers (and I can imagine you guys know how to work your way around the industry), this could be something to create a predictable cash flow for all, and, therefore, alleviate the financial situation.
This would also create a direct link between subscribers and publishers, which could generate more business opportunities.
I honestly cannot believe that customers like the ones who buy PS Audio products, and have thousands, or tens of thousands of dollars invested in music equipment, wouldn’t support the service, should the music be of good quality.
It is always fun to tweak and benchmark your audio equipment (like I used to do with gaming hardware in my youth); but in the end, its true meaning is only achieved through playing good music.
My two cents. Best of luck.
