3 ms·

What is this "ever increasing sum of money"? Recording industry revenues peaked in the CD era in the late 90s/early 00s. People pay significantly less money on

by paxys 3y ago

What is this "ever increasing sum of money"? Recording industry revenues peaked in the CD era in the late 90s/early 00s. People pay significantly less money on average today and have access to infinitely more music. And the "purchase and own forever" model you mention hasn't gone anywhere. Everyone is free to buy MP3s/CDs/Vinyl or whatever else. It just doesn't make sense for the majority of people, because no one wants to listen to a single album on repeat for a month.

bryanrasmussen 3y ago
Most people have fairly limited musical tastes - definable as "liking the stuff that was popular in high school and maybe a couple new songs a year that reminds them of high school" Assuming that most people have fairly stable lives they probably bought all their CDs some time in their 20s and maybe have to 1.25 cds a year to make up for wear and tear of their old music and the occasional new album. For users with that kind of musical taste Streaming services are clearly a big increase in cost, offering no extra value. For users with a wide ranging musical taste - which might be more applicable to younger generations who have been taught that access to all the world's music is a possibility - obviously the Streaming model is a superior value.
gnarlouse 3y ago
And the artist earns significantly less as a consequence, hence the emphasis placed (from literally every artist I’ve spoken to or heard o speak on it) “you don’t make money from album sales, you hardly break even from touring, you basically need a side-business now” Or maybe it’s actually a net healthy thing—that is, demanding musical artists be lifelong paupers of the most fundamental degree—because music is an unproductive venture and starving artists make objectively better art.
- 0thgen 3y ago
  That's an empirical question: do small independent artists make more or less via the streaming model than they do via "buy CDs in shops" model? I don't know the answer, but I'm a bit skeptical of the idea that small artists were making a better living via local CD shops (with limited inventory and zero economic incentive to push smaller, unknown artists).

by paxys 3y ago

bryanrasmussen 3y ago

Most people have fairly limited musical tastes - definable as "liking the stuff that was popular in high school and maybe a couple new songs a year that reminds them of high school" Assuming that most people have fairly stable lives they probably bought all their CDs some time in their 20s and maybe have to 1.25 cds a year to make up for wear and tear of their old music and the occasional new album. For users with that kind of musical taste Streaming services are clearly a big increase in cost, offering no extra value. For users with a wide ranging musical taste - which might be more applicable to younger generations who have been taught that access to all the world's music is a possibility - obviously the Streaming model is a superior value.

gnarlouse 3y ago

And the artist earns significantly less as a consequence, hence the emphasis placed (from literally every artist I’ve spoken to or heard o speak on it) “you don’t make money from album sales, you hardly break even from touring, you basically need a side-business now” Or maybe it’s actually a net healthy thing—that is, demanding musical artists be lifelong paupers of the most fundamental degree—because music is an unproductive venture and starving artists make objectively better art.

0thgen 3y ago
That's an empirical question: do small independent artists make more or less via the streaming model than they do via "buy CDs in shops" model? I don't know the answer, but I'm a bit skeptical of the idea that small artists were making a better living via local CD shops (with limited inventory and zero economic incentive to push smaller, unknown artists).