Why music ownership matters

Now, would everyone who replied to this thread please state your age :innocent::joy:

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I’m a card carrying Medicare member if it means anything :thinking:

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TRICARE for life! But I’m on the younger side of the board at a sprightly 51. Which means I own music. I’ve cultivated that in my kids so far, but a couple primarily stream.

It’s a changing world. If the streamers continue to screw with people, and embrace the madness of the Twitter crowd (like those who want Joe Rogan silenced), we will cycle back I suppose.

It doesn’t much matter to me. I’ll continue to purchase the music that matters to me as long as I can, and if that goes away? What a rich library I will be able to fall back on. If I didn’t discover another new song I like, as long as my CD player and/or NAS continue to function, I will be a contented man.

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I hate to be a Debby Downer, but Acoustic Sounds is dropping their digital downloads. According to them, it is due to more streaming and less purchases of download files.

Their High Rez download store will be open through 12/31 and they offer a 20% discount through then.

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There was a major Linked In data breach in 2016 that released user information and passwords. The lists of users, their passwords, and other data were then sold on to spammers and scammers and hackers. Those guys loaded the lists onto their automated hacking and spamming systems. I got hundreds of threatening emails telling me my password which I changed promptly. My Adobe Pro account was hacked a few years back, I cancelled my subscription. Actually, nothing is 100% safe online.

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A huge downer. I had no idea. Their DSD offerings are irreplaceable.

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https://www.prestomusic.com (if you are ok with hi res flac, CDs, LPs) Mainly classical. Award winning records are marked. Very few SACDs. Best searched by label.

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Absolutely true. I think it’s easier than ever for a thief to do his crimes while sitting at home watching TV.
In the last 10 years I have had credit cards hacked 4 times. I was also part of the LinkedIn breach along with a couple more along the way. Since the first CC theft I have a text sent to my phone whenever there is credit card activity. That has caught the last 3 thefts before the card could be charged. I also froze all of my credit score files to keep any new credit requests from happening.

So sorry to hear that!

Interesting. Just going to their webpage for downloads and I don’t see anything about it, either the ending of sales, or the discount. Did they mention a promo code?

Hi Craig,
Selection DSD under downloads shows the full price and the discounted price.

Yes, they had the best selection of DSD downloads and I am going to miss that.

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I got an e-mail from Acoustic Sounds. But, I visited their website and the downloads show an original price and new price which is 20% off. So, no promo code needed.

They do mention it in their banner page which changes every few seconds.

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From the consumer perspective, it’s difficult for me to see streaming as anything but a massive boon for music enthusiasts. I totally get that a high quality transport and CD/SACD will likely be superior sounding. I also understand that most artist suffer financially from streaming. I also understand there is a certain level of pride entwined with ownership. All that aside, what a bonanza streaming is!

In 2000 I would purchase one CD for $17. That’s $25 in today’s money. Quboz is $12.49 per month on the yearly plan. For half the effective price of a CD bought in the year 2000, I get access to approximately 6 million, that’s MILLION albums on Quboz. 240K are high res, the rest are CD quality. Storage and maintenance of the music is included in the subscription.

Holy smokes. Streaming represents an astonishing value compared to how music was sold prior to the arrival of Spotify. It makes Columbia House look like an extravagant expense. $12.49 a month is almost like getting music for free.

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I wonder how long the musicians will be able to support a distribution system such as this.

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Musicians cannot support streaming as it is currently. Only immensely popular artists, such as Taylor Swift, make any real money off of streaming.

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By default, it’s all come down to the Grateful Dead approach. Make the music free. Use that to build up a large fan base, and cash in on live shows. They did that quite successfully, but they were in the right genre, and had the material to be successful at it. Streaming isn’t going anywhere, for better or worse.

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From band wagon (or theatre for the affluent class) to home hi fi, economies of scale in the music industry evolved big time. While making music available to the masses and winning them over with low price, I think streaming created a huge wealth for those companies. I always draw parallels with landlines, then CDMA, GSM, 3G, LTE, and 4G. Lower cost to the consumer, but not less profit to the providers though competition is fierce. I am not sure how many music streaming services are on the stock exchange, but I am sure they make big bucks. Are their models based on revenue sharing? Do they pay artists a good %?

It really is a tremendous value.

They pay the artist horribly. On YouTube there are videos explaining how poorly these services pay. Essentially, unless you’re at the Mariah Carey type level, the only ones making money with streaming are the services themselves. The artist is out in the cold.

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