Does anyone still buy music?

uglymusic

I said the other day that I still buy music. That's mainly from Bandcamp, but I also buy ECM albums from prestomusic.com, a UK-based record shop that has gone very seriously online. They specialise in jazz and classical (whatever that is )

I buy music for a few reasons:

1. I like owning music; collecting it.
   
2. I go deeper with the music I've bought. I spend more time with it, understanding it and getting some deeper spiritual value from it (sorry!). Music from the streaming services seems to come and go like music in Asda
   
3. I feel I'm supporting the artists I value (whose music I value?) by buying from them rather than giving them a pittance from Spotify and their ilk (this mainly applies to Bandcamp purchases, but sometimes I still buy directly from an artist who chooses to make their music available in that way)
   
4. It sounds better! As Ben has noted, locally hosted files sound better than those streamed from the internet. Whether that's because of failings of the internet, or choices made by the streaming services, I don't know. The thing is, I've invested time, money and thought into building my main system to get good sound, so why feed it with substandard signals? I tend to listen to Spotify while I'm doing something else or I'm listening to my lower-fi equipment. The poorer sound quality doesn't matter then
   

Am I potty? Am I not keeping up with the 21st Century? Do I have a point?

And, notice, I'm not talking about collecting vinyl.

Docfoster

I'm with you, mainly because of your points 2 and 4.
2 is an interesting observation Dave. Could be that I buy music that I'm more likely to get into...And/or I'm more like to become attached to music I own physically...?

justshoemark

I still buy all my music. Have not streamed at all apart from in the car. 
There's so many people the say it's good and then there's loads that say it isn't. 
I suppose it's good for finding new music and trying before you buy. 

uglymusic

Docfoster said:

I'm with you, mainly because of your points 2 and 4.
2 is an interesting observation Dave. Could be that I buy music that I'm more likely to get into...And/or I'm more like to become attached to music I own physically...?

I do buy some music that I know I'm going to be attached to. But I also buy material that I want to give some time to. I just don't go back to stuff on Spotify and the like.

I buy mainly FLAC downloads, so physical ownership doesn't do it for me. If I buy a CD I rip it and put it away.

uglymusic

justshoemark said:

I still buy all my music. Have not streamed at all apart from in the car. 
There's so many people the say it's good and then there's loads that say it isn't. 
I suppose it's good for finding new music and trying before you buy. 

That's cool. I can't afford to buy all the music I'd want to get! So I listen to the stuff I'm not so bothered about on Spotify.

And I have friends who I say: Have you heard this? With a link to Spotify. I like that aspect of it. Quite often those links are to the streaming version of something I've bought.

They send links back to me, of course.

justshoemark

Yes I no what you mean it dose cost alot.
But how much is a decent streamer? 
And what do you think is the best to stream from. 
But I do like the idea of hearing more new music easily. 

Docfoster

justshoemark said:

I still buy all my music. Have not streamed at all apart from in the car. 
There's so many people the say it's good and then there's loads that say it isn't. 
I suppose it's good for finding new music and trying before you buy. 

Yes! It is great for tbyb.

Docfoster

uglymusic said:

Docfoster said:

I'm with you, mainly because of your points 2 and 4.
2 is an interesting observation Dave. Could be that I buy music that I'm more likely to get into...And/or I'm more like to become attached to music I own physically...?

I do buy some music that I know I'm going to be attached to. But I also buy material that I want to give some time to. I just don't go back to stuff on Spotify and the like.

I buy mainly FLAC downloads, so physical ownership doesn't do it for me. If I buy a CD I rip it and put it away.

Ditto. My loft is full of em!

Docfoster

justshoemark said:

Yes I no what you mean it dose cost alot.
But how much is a decent streamer? 
And what do you think is the best to stream from. 
But I do like the idea of hearing more new music easily. 

Have been trying Tidal Masters lately. It is the most listenable streaming I’ve heard. But, when I compare it to local FLAC CD rips, Tidal Masters still sounds a bit…off. Not by much, but like everyone else here I’m an elitist when it comes to sound quality.

uglymusic

justshoemark said:

Yes I no what you mean it dose cost alot.
But how much is a decent streamer? 
And what do you think is the best to stream from. 
But I do like the idea of hearing more new music easily. 

Streamer as in streaming service? About two album downloads a month for 'CD Quality'.
Tidal sounds best of those I've tried (I haven't tried Quboz), but I subscribe to Spotify because it's cheap, not because it sounds good.

cj66

Another stream before you buy, via Spotify peep here. I also use it for background music or "see where this takes me" sessions ( song radio feature ).

I usually Spotify (new verb 😉 ) directly off my phone or via Chromecast into a basic stereo but have recently added another CCA to the main rig with the intention of including my old DIY DAC back into the system. (Only one with optical in)

Unfortunately that has been stored badly in a very hot environment for several years and seems rather worse for wear because of it, magic smoke included!

Slowly working my way through the problems, thus far dried out caps in the PSUs but still more investigating to do....

uglymusic

Oooooh! Magic smoke!

Your usage sounds very similar to mine. Although Spotifying into the big rig is not something I do.

AntiCrap

I still buy classical CD's.

uglymusic

What? Digital lies?

AntiCrap

No BIG fibs, but getting the Royal Philharmonic into our small place would be a we bit tight.