Philosophically I expect we all agree.
But art has always been a commodity; the artist must make a living. Performances of the Iliad, the songs of the Troubadours, Shakespeare’s plays - it is all entertainment. The best performers know how to draw a paying crowd.
The most successful entertainer is he who best sells his personality, his engagement with the audience, likeability, animal sexual magnetism, etc., as well as being good at his art.
The first and a bit more provocative piece Lavorgna wrote about Spotify was on Audiostream and I can’t locate it.
Thanks for looking.
There is no dearth of articles on how poorly streaming services pay artists. Musicians have never been treated well by radio, album producers, managers - anyone up the chain.
It was primarily about censorship and how if you own your music on physical media, no one can take it from you. Which leads to streaming discussions because it follows.
One of my biggest complaints with streaming has to do with soundtracks that have a wide compilation of songs, like the two Guardians of the Galaxy soundtracks. Try and play either from a streaming service. You can’t.
I also have had occasions where I’ve asked Siri to play an album for me and it has substituted a live version of a song for the original on the album, right in the middle. It’s maddening. Previously, when I’ve synced my library with Apple Music, I’ve had it replace songs I had with Apple Music versions, or worse, change my carefully cultivated album art. My son had a Taylor Swift song in his library changed by Apple Music to the clean version once without any interaction or permission. That’s the worst thing for me about Apple Music-it’s not a separate app; it’s fully integrated into the iPhone music app. But I digress.
I guess the point that I’m trying to isolate is that anytime you allow anyone else, particularly corporations or governments or big tech (yes, corporations, I know) into your music library, it’s no longer yours.
And that’s what motivates me to keep posting stories like this because I want the freedom to own the things that matter to me, and corporations, subject to the whims of public opinion or fear of being boycotted or shamed, will act in THEIR interest first, not mine.
See all the tv episodes disappeared this past year for offensive humor. See that “Song of the South” has been disappeared from the Disney catalog for years.
Music is not special, friends. If they can take down Bob Freaking Dylan because of a song people INTERPRET is about Israel, they can take down anyone.
Own what matters to you because it’s only going to get worse as both cultures and nations without the laws or traditions of protecting free expression seek to clamp down on the internet as we knew it. (Past tense intended)
Sorry to go so long. But I have many thoughts on this. Many, many thoughts.
Mike
I expect limitations on what is available on streaming services, but I was unaware, not surprised, by Apple’s mucking around with user’s libraries. This would be maddening.
Fortunately we can buy and own any physical media we would like, thereby bypassing any concerns of unavailability.
Individuals and corporations will always act in their best interest. If streaming music services attract more fee paying customers through providing what users view as a non-offensive safe environment these services will act accordingly. If their library is too restrictive for many, alternate services will arise to satisfy the desires of these listeners. This is as it should be.
I would prefer that all content be available on all services, but I only have my purchasing decisions to influence what providers decide to include.
Right on…keep on preaching it…
Sadly
Thank you Elk …
Sadly Apple has done this repeatedly since about
2003 or 2004…
When I purchase either cd or mp3s they become mine…
mp3 files to drive and cds ripped to drive…no one can
delete these…and enjoy on my Oppo 205.
For safety I have back ups…in case I mess something up
irretrievably…
Happy journeys
For me, the strangest thing Apple has done was to push a U2 album on all iTunes users in 2014, forcing the album on to every Apple device - sending the message “Your device does not belong to you.”
Creepy.
Elk light bulb here just went off …if perhaps a bit too far out
but here goes anyway…
PS Audio starts making cellphones hacker proof PS Audio closed source
software, carefully curated chips to where intruders simply can’t hack.
Even our good ole buddy “whizkid” would have a dickens of a time
cracking the code… 
Wishful thinking perhaps…
I’m fine with corporations doing what they do to make a buck. Like probably making money on the U2 deal. What I’m not fine with is corporations going beyond their scope and censoring based on political agendas or what ‘they think ‘ is something you shouldn’t hear or be aware of.
I’ll go a bit further/state it a little differently: today’s “cancel culture” is a scourge upon civilization and all freedom-loving people.
If the mob can come for “them”, the mob is free to come for you.
It’s pretty gnarly out there. It’s like Ayn Rand’s Anthem meets Orwell’s 1984. I’m ready to return to museums and live music.
I certainly respect the notion of owning music. I own quite a bit myself. That said, physical media absolutely can be taken from you. Any number of natural disasters can do so, including your house burning down. There’s robbery. And what about your pet goat? The streaming cloud protects against all of those things.
And one day, as sure as the sun will shine, you will die. And the music isn’t going with you.
The point being, certainty is an illusion. The only constant is change itself.
Raises an interesting point.
There’s no one in my family nor circle who will want my huge collection of CDs and their associated FLAC rips sitting on a NAS. Okay, maybe the CDs but this is where LPs may be in a different league.
The point being that the music in our life is transitory. Both owning and streaming are transitory. Just a matter of which transitory flavor one prefers.
I’ll say that I’m coforted in knowing I can listen to whatever I want with out some system knowing it. This is a major perk of ownership to me and loath the idea of my music choices being public or even private data that could be…whatever.
Now that this topic has been hashed and re hashed …
let’s just go enjoy that which we have
I’m not parting with my current speakers, they will be accompanying me in the hereafter.
Great point. And don’t use devices like Alexa. It records all that we say in our homes to their cloud for analysis . Creepy!
I’m pretty sure hash and rehash is the very purpose of these forums 