The Truth About Music Streaming

[Kal Rubinson]

Using a Yamaha WXAD music streamer plugged into an amp & using the Yamaha app on my phone to run it. It's random and pretty rare & it's always on same song so I figure it has to be a problem with the content on Qobuz. Next time I hear it I'll post up song & version of it & you could give it try if you can stream it with no problem I'm gonna cancel Qobuz & try your provider.

OK. Let me know about the song/version but what do you mean by "try your provider?"

 

[Madlop26]

Being quite ignorant about streaming, it's not feasible to record the files in some mann

I used audacity to record music from Spotify, should work with any streamer, some learning curve is needed, as far you use your recordings privately I see little risk on it, I did that to listen to music I like when I am offline, like in a plane p.e. Now There is a paid program UkeySoft Apple Music Converter you can download music from iTunes. I used it once to download one of my playlist, It was so fast!, no need to record anything, but I was wondering how legal it is, The program is still on sale after more than 1 year checking on it. The program gives you option to download in FLAC, MP3 and another formats, but you should select ACC256, is the one that do not produce artifacts in the spectrogram, I am sure that is a pure download with no conversion at all, Again how legal it is idk, but they continue running business as usual...

 

[LouB]

OK. Let me know about the song/version but what do you mean by "try your provider?"

Ok, I figured it out it has something to do with the Yamaha Musiccast app on my phone & my wifi network. The split second hicup only happens when I'm using the phone to skip songs, it's very random and doesn't happen all the time. The phone and streaming device are connected via wifi. So there is some type of latency or signal interruption/delay in there when skipping songs ? Streming is perfect in shuffle mode or when shuffle mode is off & I just let music play. Really odd that it rarely happens.
What I meant from "try your provider" is if you were able stream same song as me & it plays fine I would dump Qobuz and switch over to what service your using to stream. To me that would have proved it's not my system the problem is Qobuz.
Thanks

 

[Peterinvan]

Being quite ignorant about streaming, it's not feasible to record the files in some manner?

Yes you can download to FLAC files for your collection. But why bother with legality issues, when you can download playlists from Tidal to your portable streaming device (DAP, Phone etc.)

However, for a backup, I use Roon to export my playlists from Tidal to a .CSV Soundiz compatible files. I can always recover my playlists to any streaming service.

 

[Head_Unit]

My biggest concern with streaming is, when will they start raising the cost to something really painful?

Never, perhaps unfortunately for the artists. Not that most of them ever made much anyway, it's not like that's a new story. I'm not sure whether Apple or Spotify is the bigger streaming gorilla right now, but Apple has zero need to raise their price. They have $48 BILLION in cash. They could PAY every subscriber until the sun swells up and swallows the Earth and be fine. And without Apple raising the price, nobody else can get away with it. Even if they did raise the price to get some more profit, it's impossible to conceive it would be more than like $15, way under inflation over time.

Lots of people post fear regarding "it all goes away if I stop paying!" Look, if you get so broke you can't pay the $10, you will be homeless and not able to keep your physical media (or servers/hard drives)!

 

[Peterinvan]

My biggest concern with streaming is, when will they start raising the cost to something really painful?

What will be more painful is when musicians cannot afford to live off their talents.

Tidal now pays my favourite artists a bonus. Universal is calling out streaming companies for their shared pool compensation.

Universal Music Chief Lucian Grainge Slams Streaming Economy: ‘We Need an Updated Model’

In his annual letter to staff, Universal Music head Lucian Grainge criticized the existing music-streaming economy, saying 'we need a new model.'

variety.com

Us older folks used to pay a quarter to play a few tracks in a jukebox.

I would really like to know at what price per track the streaming service would have to charge us to achieve the same profit margins.

How much would you be willing to pay to stream a track or album???

P.S. I am paying about $30 a month for basic TV streaming. I listen to Tidal more than I watch TV.

 

[LouB]

.

What will be more painful is when musicians cannot afford to live off their talents.

Tidal now pays my favourite artists a bonus. Universal is calling out streaming companies for their shared pool compensation.

Universal Music Chief Lucian Grainge Slams Streaming Economy: ‘We Need an Updated Model’

In his annual letter to staff, Universal Music head Lucian Grainge criticized the existing music-streaming economy, saying 'we need a new model.'

variety.com

Us older folks used to pay a quarter to play a few tracks in a jukebox.

I would really like to know at what price per track the streaming service would have to charge us to achieve the same profit margins.

How much would you be willing to pay to stream a track or album???

P.S

Wow, I read that article & what a load of crap ! You talk about a "new world order" & total market domination that's where He & his shareholders want the music industry to go. My approach now is like the Italian school of driving "whats a behind u don't matter no more" so I'm gonna just remove my rear view mirror & not worry about it. As I don't really understand what's wrong with today's streaming model & certainly have no idea what a better model would be.
A lot of Musicians have gotten the short end stick over the years, from record labels, publishers, concert promoters, club owners, band mates & everybody in between. A ton sad stories out there & I have no doubt that the clown who wrote that letter is going to change anything.

 

[Peterinvan]

Wow, I read that article & what a load of crap ! You talk about a "new world order" & total market domination that's where He & his shareholders want the music industry to go. My approach now is like the Italian school of driving "whats a behind u don't matter no more" so I'm gonna just remove my rear view mirror & not worry about it. As I don't really understand what's wrong with today's streaming model & certainly have no idea what a better model would be.
A lot of Musicians have gotten the short end stick over the years, from record labels, publishers, concert promoters, club owners, band mates & everybody in between. A ton sad stories out there & I have no doubt that the clown who wrote that letter is going to change anything.

Another crazy idea: what if a streaming service offered new musicians 80% of a per stream revenue, disintermediating the record companies completely How would the big record companies fight back? Would they participate or ban their music?
How much would YOU pay per track streamed? Per album downloaded?

 

[LouB]

Another crazy idea: what if a streaming service offered new musicians 80% of a per stream revenue, disintermediating the record companies completely How would the big record companies fight back? Would they participate or ban their music?
How much would YOU pay per track streamed? Per album downloaded?

Good question, but very dependent on the track. Lets say it's track of a legendary live show I attended I'd probably pay a few bucks for it. If it's a studio version of same track maybe .50 cents, if it's an unknown artist zero until I've heard em.
What's a "new musician" ? If you mean an artist that doesn't have a recording contract or someone who has never sold a song outside of maybe there self promoted cd's at there local bar gig, I don't see how we would ever find them ? Promoting an artist takes time & money that's where the record company's come in. In the past they could offer an artist studio time, album promotion, concert promotion & front money to live on, gamboling on that artist. How all that works in todays world I have no idea.
The music businesses is tough very tough, in most cases you have to be an ace to make a living at it people won't pay for Ok or mediocre music. I kind of get a feeling that in today's social media, justice by mob mentality a lot of just OK/mediocre musicians want a bigger piece of the pie than they ever could have prior to the internet.
40 years ago a lousy carpenter,plumber, doctor,lawyer,engineer ect. could all make a living at there trade (& that holds true today). But a lousy singer couldn't even gig with a local bar band. Today a lousy singer can self record, self promote & maybe find a small audience, get a few thousand of em together saying "it ain't fair" doesn't mean they deserve something.
Sorry for the half-baked rambling on the music biz. FWIW It's coming from an old guy who played alongside of some good singers & players who barley scraped by & almost all them had day jobs to make ends meet. Haven't been anywhere near the music biz. in 30 years & have no clue on what is fair & equatable in today's world.

 

[Colin Lewis Smith]

Excellent articulation of some basics of the tech involved in audio.

 

[LouB]

Excellent articulation of some basics of the tech involved in audio.

Sorry about that, it's the best I could do.

 

[Colin Lewis Smith]

Sorry about that, it's the best I could do.

Perhaps “basics” was the wrong word….. good articulation of the underlaying tech foundation of streaming.

 

[MaxBuck]

I read so much about musicians getting the short end of the stick. Yet Bono, Jagger and others have 8-figure villas on the Riviera, and streaming services are chockablock with more mediocre bands than have been available commercially in recorded history.

Something is wrong with this picture.

 

[RDoc]

I tried Tidal.....for half an hour. Unsubscribed immediately and have never tried it again....same with Prime Music.,
Direct compared to my files on hard-drive, their stream of the same material in the same supposed quality just sounded weak and lifeless.
That's it for streaming music for me....should work perfectly, but it doesn't.

Did you try a blind ABX comparison?

 

[RDoc]

My strong argument for streaming is the availability of a huge library of music that allows us to easily explore new artists and genres. I'm not sure how people who don't use streams would ever find and select favorites of something like modern Indian music, female French jazz singers, or the multitude of Renaissance and Medieval groups. I don't think you'll find them on you local ad supported FM station.

 

[Colin Lewis Smith]

My strong argument for streaming is the availability of a huge library of music that allows us to easily explore new artists and genres. I'm not sure how people who don't use streams would ever find and select favorites of something like modern Indian music, female French jazz singers, or the multitude of Renaissance and Medieval groups. I don't think you'll find them on you local ad supported FM station.

It is amazing how effective and interesting the algorithms that generate a list of listening suggestions can be. They are using A.I. and mining the listening habits of 1000s of people to give you targeted options. I’ve discovered so many artists, and even different genres, this way.

 

[Bernard23]

I have no loss of source fear of streaming subs - if that event ever happens I suspect there are more serious issues going on in the world. I still collect vinyl, mostly because of the ritual that invokes so many memories, and music I think is often associated with a time or an event in one's life. Secondly, it encourages, even forces you to listen to an entire album; the biggest pro and con to streaming is the ease of building single track playlists, so many B sides go unheard.

 

[beagleman]

I find it fascinating that by an act of will, you can choose to hear something that you normally wouldn't pay any attention to. If someone was talking to you and shuffling papers at the same time, you could intentionally concentrate on the sound of the paper and render the talking to the background. It's a fun experiment to do It explains how the snake oil reveiwers manage to "hear" the effects they wax lyrical over.

I love reading many of the "blowhards" on audio forums claiming "I KNOW WHAT I HEAR"..........clueless to how human hearing and perception all work together.

All "we" (as humans in general) know is what we THINK we are hearing.

 

[Bernard23]

I love reading many of the "blowhards" on audio forums claiming "I KNOW WHAT I HEAR"..........clueless to how human hearing and perception all work together.

All "we" (as humans in general) know is what we THINK we are hearing.

I've had an argument with a university prof of psychology over this. He was adamant he was immune to cognitive bias because he designed blind tests for a living.

 

[jsrtheta]

I read so much about musicians getting the short end of the stick. Yet Bono, Jagger and others have 8-figure villas on the Riviera, and streaming services are chockablock with more mediocre bands than have been available commercially in recorded history.

Something is wrong with this picture.

Well, Bono and Jagger didn't make their money off streaming. They do now make money off streaming, but they originally got rich the old fashioned way: Releasing albums that were purchased retail, in stores.

Bands used to tour in support of their latest albums. Now they tour because they need the money from tours.