Is music streaming "enough"?

Paedantic Basterd · 06-19-2013, 10:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mojopinuk

I agree with you but I think what makes that particular point a debate, is it OK to call yourself a fan of music and not buy any of it? There are artists I would say I was a fan of and yet I don't own any of their music. However, for me personally, theres a line. If I continue to get into that artist, and find myself liking their music and more, loving their music, adoring that band, I have to buy physical copies rather than continue to keep listening to the ones I stole.

Buying the music doesn't make you the fan in your example. You don't suddenly become one. You buy their music because you are a fan, and that is your way of expressing it.

Personally, I hesitate to call myself a fan of anything unless I'm madly in love with one album or really enjoy two or more of them*, but that's what being a fan feels like to me. I'm not going to tell anyone else whether or not they are fans of a thing.

* Coincidentally, I do own merchandise from these artists, but I do not consider that part of my subjective fan experience, because I am now too poor to pay for most artist-related goods, whether I love that artist or not.

jackhammer · 08-07-2013, 07:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pedestrian

Yes, this is a foolish question. Materialism isn't a gauge of liking things. Couldn't you say that you loved Salvador Dali's or Picasso's work without ever owning a piece? Can you say that you love Thai food if you don't know how to cook it yourself? Can you love a book if you rented it from a library?

I get where u are coming from but music is a far more easier commodity to share around than many other forms of art. How can you extol the virtues of a great book unless physically giving them a copy or asking them to download it and read it for themselves?

Great pieces of artwork can be talked about and enthused upon but you really cannot experience the intimacy unless u own it or walk through a gallery and view it and even then it is not yours. It is not personal, it is a shared experience whereas music can be shared and be far more intimate at times.

So to get back to the original thread, is streaming enough? To pass on information it is virtually essential but to feel an emotional connection to the art u appreciate I answer no.

I have a lot more views on this but will wait for a few more replies.

anathematized_one · 06-18-2013, 12:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Briks

Can you talk about how much you ABSOLUTELY LOVE a band if you have heard every single song they have released (by streaming or borrowing a record from a friend), but do not own any of their albums?

Definitely. What does the format matter?

To be a fan or absolutely love a band is to love their music, CDs and records are just a medium through which what you love is delivered.

It is out of love for a band that people pay for their merch when they can, not the other way around (buying merch in order to love/become a fan).

The album or record or whatever will eventually get worn out through use and you will be unable to listen to it anymore. Buying (or "stealing") the music is more important than having or borrowing a physical copy.

Whether or not you own it doesn't change how you feel about the music.

It is like the argument some use when you dislike a particular artist they love. "Can you play that?" Doesn't ****ing matter if I can or can't play it or if I even play an instrument or not, I have ears and am not deaf. I can say I think something sucks if it sounds like it sucks, you don't HAVE to play an instrument or write music to be able to appreciate it.

You don't HAVE to own a band's music to talk of how much you love them.

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TheBig3 · 06-18-2013, 02:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Briks

Hey.

Now that Pink Floyd is on Spotify, my need for purchasing their albums to fill my collection has decreased. I can simply listen to them digitally. Still, I feel that it isn't enough. Owning albums, on vinyl or CD, seems to mean much more to a fan than just streaming music online. But streaming serve the same purpose, right? You just don't "own" the music, and you can't take it with you (though you can if you buy the MP3s, or use a mobile service).

For example:
If you listen a lot to Black Sabbath on Spotify, have Black Sabbath playlists, but do not own any of their albums, can you consider yourself a fan?

Music streaming is increasing in popularity, so people say, yet some artists choose to distance themselves from the trend. Pink Floyd, for instance (it wasn't their choice to be added to Spotify, after all). I am thinking a bit of the same thing. Streaming is cheaper, but can you consider yourself a "fan" by just streaming the music? Or do you have to at least buy the band's MP3s? Or their CDs? Their vinyl albums?

Any thoughts?

Fact: There were no music fans before the record was invented.

anathematized_one · 06-18-2013, 06:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pedestrian

Yes, this is a foolish question. Materialism isn't a gauge of liking things. Couldn't you say that you loved Salvador Dali's or Picasso's work without ever owning a piece? Can you say that you love Thai food if you don't know how to cook it yourself? Can you love a book if you rented it from a library?

Exactly. It is not the physical album/book/painting that is loved, that is just a VEHICLE through which it is delivered, what is loved is the music/story/image.

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Chives · 06-18-2013, 10:17 PM

Getting physical copies of music is very important to me because going to record shops is where I get the majority of my social interaction. Maybe.

Gavin B. · 06-19-2013, 08:40 AM

I'm perfectly happy to have all of my music in the MP3 format. I have my computer hooked up to my home stereo system and it's much easier to find a song or artist you're looking for using a home computer music player, rather than trawling through your collection of cds and vinyl albums to find that one certain song you want to listen to. I still have a roomful of thousands of cds and vinyl albums which I eventually will sell off when I find time to list them on Half.com.

With digital files can also place your entire digital music collection on a playlist and shuffle the content around to enhance your listening experience. With a cd player your limited playing a certain number of albums depending on the size of your cd player disc carousel. Many of the newer products are multi-function players that play both cds and MP3 files. But to use the MP3 function you still have to purchase the MP3 files at a music service and own a portable MP3 player in order to play digital music on a multi-function player.

7 or 8 years ago, I made a big mistake which resulted in the loss of my entire digital music collection when my computer crashed. It took me almost three years and thousands of dollars to restore all of the music I lost from the computer crash. I now subscribe to music services that allow you to redownload any MP3 file you've purchased from their service because I ended up having to repurchase many of the MP3 files I lost when my computer crashed.

The other big pain in the ass task that comes with maintaining a large library of MP3 music is transferring the all those music files to a new computer processor from your old computer processor whenever you purchase a new CPU. It took me a couple of months of working at least an hour a day to completely transfer all the digital music files from my old CPU to the new one I purchased last January.

I have no use for streaming music because of all of the use limitations imposed on streaming music. With streaming music, you can't burn home made cds or synch streaming music to a portable listening device. And when you eventually stop subscribing to a streaming music service, you automatically lose access to all of the streaming music service once provided you with.

anathematized_one · 06-19-2013, 09:45 AM

Well for me, I have a 1 TB external hard drive dedicated solely for my mp3 music library, so transfering is really easy.

As for me, I never want to sell my physical collection. If ever I end up with duplicates of a hasd to find album though, I will trade it off for something I don't have.

Then if you have an mp3 player, you can have thousands of albums with you at all times and can switch between them with speed and ease.

So having a physical collection tthat is totally unused (assuming nothing happens like your house burning down), you always have that perfect physical backup if something insanely improbable happened like the Internet perma-died everywhere or an apocalyptic event of some kind.

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sidewinder · 06-19-2013, 11:25 AM

I agree with those that said being a fan has nothing to do with whether you've supported the group financially or own anything in a physical format. Being a fan means you like and enjoy something. All else is irrelevant.

Mojo · 06-19-2013, 11:43 AM

I agree. But as I said, I'm fairly sure thats why this often gets presented as a debate.

06-18-2013, 10:17 PM	#6 (permalink)
Chives Music Addict Join Date: Nov 2011 Location: Tacoma, WA Posts: 299	Getting physical copies of music is very important to me because going to record shops is where I get the majority of my social interaction. Maybe. __________________ [My last.fm] [My Tumblr]

06-19-2013, 08:40 AM	#7 (permalink)
Gavin B. Model Worker Join Date: Jan 2009 Posts: 1,248	I'm perfectly happy to have all of my music in the MP3 format. I have my computer hooked up to my home stereo system and it's much easier to find a song or artist you're looking for using a home computer music player, rather than trawling through your collection of cds and vinyl albums to find that one certain song you want to listen to. I still have a roomful of thousands of cds and vinyl albums which I eventually will sell off when I find time to list them on Half.com. With digital files can also place your entire digital music collection on a playlist and shuffle the content around to enhance your listening experience. With a cd player your limited playing a certain number of albums depending on the size of your cd player disc carousel. Many of the newer products are multi-function players that play both cds and MP3 files. But to use the MP3 function you still have to purchase the MP3 files at a music service and own a portable MP3 player in order to play digital music on a multi-function player. 7 or 8 years ago, I made a big mistake which resulted in the loss of my entire digital music collection when my computer crashed. It took me almost three years and thousands of dollars to restore all of the music I lost from the computer crash. I now subscribe to music services that allow you to redownload any MP3 file you've purchased from their service because I ended up having to repurchase many of the MP3 files I lost when my computer crashed. The other big pain in the ass task that comes with maintaining a large library of MP3 music is transferring the all those music files to a new computer processor from your old computer processor whenever you purchase a new CPU. It took me a couple of months of working at least an hour a day to completely transfer all the digital music files from my old CPU to the new one I purchased last January. I have no use for streaming music because of all of the use limitations imposed on streaming music. With streaming music, you can't burn home made cds or synch streaming music to a portable listening device. And when you eventually stop subscribing to a streaming music service, you automatically lose access to all of the streaming music service once provided you with. __________________ There are two types of music: the first type is the blues and the second type is all the other stuff. Townes Van Zandt

06-19-2013, 09:45 AM	#8 (permalink)
anathematized_one Music Addict Join Date: May 2013 Location: Someplace Awful Posts: 123	Well for me, I have a 1 TB external hard drive dedicated solely for my mp3 music library, so transfering is really easy. As for me, I never want to sell my physical collection. If ever I end up with duplicates of a hasd to find album though, I will trade it off for something I don't have. Then if you have an mp3 player, you can have thousands of albums with you at all times and can switch between them with speed and ease. So having a physical collection tthat is totally unused (assuming nothing happens like your house burning down), you always have that perfect physical backup if something insanely improbable happened like the Internet perma-died everywhere or an apocalyptic event of some kind. Sent from my SCH-S720C using Tapatalk 2 __________________ Sardonicus YouTube Channel

06-19-2013, 11:25 AM	#9 (permalink)
sidewinder Engorged Member Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Seattle, WA Posts: 5,536	I agree with those that said being a fan has nothing to do with whether you've supported the group financially or own anything in a physical format. Being a fan means you like and enjoy something. All else is irrelevant. __________________ last.fm \| my collection on RYM \| vinyl instagram @allthatyouseeandhear I'd love to see your signature/links too, but the huge and obnoxious ones have caused me to block all signatures.

06-19-2013, 11:43 AM	#10 (permalink)
Mojo Melancholia Eternally Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: England Posts: 5,018	I agree. But as I said, I'm fairly sure thats why this often gets presented as a debate. __________________ Last.FM \| Echoes and Dust