Qobuz Black Friday Sale - 60% off

[Chris]

Qobuz has started their Black Friday sale.

Some music is 60% off. For instance I am exploring titles on the Laborie Jazz label featuring artists such as the Shai Maestro Trio who has a new album on the ECM label. Many of the albums are $2 or $3. Why not support some new artists and find some great new music in Audiophile sound quality?

You don't have to have a streaming account to buy and download. A free account is all that is required.

www.qobuz.com/us-en/shop

[sailor]

why buy the album when you can just stream it any time you want.
Do you think there is a sonic benefit

[Chris]

Nov 20, 2021 10:58:34 GMT -5 sailor said:

why buy the album when you can just stream it any time you want.
Do you think there is a sonic benefit

Because streaming income for the typical artists is pawltry. For example:

When the pandemic hit last year, British singer-songwriter Nadine Shah saw her income dry up in an instant. The concert bookings that sustained her vanished and, at age 34, she moved back in with her parents on the northeast coast of England.

“I was financially crippled,” Shah said in an interview.

Like musicians everywhere who were stuck off the road, staring into the abyss of their bank accounts, Shah — whose dark alto and eclectic songs have brought her critical acclaim and a niche following — began to examine her livelihood as an artist. Money from the streams of her songs on services like Spotify and Apple Music was practically nonexistent, she said, adding up to “just a few pounds here and there.” So she joined other disillusioned musicians in organizing online to push for change. Last fall, Shah testified before a parliamentary committee that has been taking a hard look at the economics of streaming, raising the prospect of new regulation.

“If we got paid a meaningful income from streaming, that could be a weekly grocery shop; it could contribute to your rent or your mortgage when you need it the most,” Shah said. “That’s why I felt compelled to talk about it. I saw so many artists struggling.”

www.standardspeaker.com/musicians-say-streaming-doesnt-pay-can-the-industry-change/article_5ea160d7-5df1-5567-b071-dea079f51d9a.html

By buying an album on Bandcamp or Qubuz you are directly paying the artist and they receive more percentage wise for their efforts. With concert touring dried up the last two years, many musicians have been hit hard. Streaming while very attractive for the consumer is not really paying the bills for the average artist.

[Deleted]

I usually stream music as well, but thumbs up to Band Camp! I've given a little extra to various artists before on there, and once or twice got a personal reply from them thanking me for the support. Have to say, that was pretty cool and definitely a perk of using the site.

[Chris]

Another issue with Streaming services is that music can just disappear. I have had actual experience where an album I enjoyed but only had in my library as a streaming item simply disappeared one day and was no longer available. No explanation or notice. I subsequently bought the CD as I did not want to lose the chance of hearing the music again. I don't know if it was a glitch or the artist/label simply didn't want to let the album be streamed anymore. Neil Young has famously in the past pulled his music from streaming services.

My policy is if a piece of music is important to me I want to own some copy of it either as a purchased download or physical copy. People that assume their streaming music will always be there may be very surprised one day to wake up and it's all gone. It can happen.

[speakertom]

To me the greatest benefit of streaming is using the mixes created by the sites like Spotify. I get to hear lots of different types of music that I may not have heard before. If I really like what I hear, often I will buy it just so it is easier to find at a later time. In that respect, streaming has the same function as wine tasting. However, unlike wine tasting where the quantity of the vintage may be limited due to total quantity produced or your total dollars available, you only have to buy the music once. In addition, there is less work to the search process for new material when streaming. Yes, I occasionally use the skip button if I find a track not to my liking, but not that often considering the benefits. Both have merits.