Does that mean you don't buy or listen to music anymore or that you've decided to become a pirate?
SM: I own an insane amount of music. I have youtube. and I have friends! Infer what you will!
Says the person who will
never pay for music again.
SM: Yeah, exactly! I own a lot of music. I can listen to it over and over. I'm happy stuck in the awesomeness of 80s music.
Personally, I bought a couple of dozen LPs last year (far more than CDs or digital files). They're not hard to find online, even older ones (I got Wild Cherry LPs brand new in the shrink wrap made in the late 1970s and didn't pay more than $15 for a single one (most were $8-11). If you figure inflation, that was a pretty good deal. Of course, I have a number of very limited made 1990s records that are worth as much as $800 (i.e. Pink Floyd PULSE LP set never opened). Selling that one LP alone would pay for about 70-80 CDs or so.
SM: Damn. that's one expensive record. I used to own the picture disc of Love Cats by the cure. I got 200 for that to fund travel. That was my most expensive record. I'd say it could be worth more now than when I sold it though.
I think you got ripped. I don't think I ever paid more than $28 for a single CD and those were Japanese imports of albums you couldn't get in the U.S. I don't think domestic single album CDs
ever cost me more than $18 from 1987 to the present. Most were $12-14 for new releases and I got hundreds from CD clubs for prices probably averaging around $5-6.
SM: Maaaate, I'm not American. In the wonderful world of the internet, people from all over the world come together. I come from a country that was absolute piracy in terms of pricing. There was nothing you could do about it. It was the 80s. No internet. Imports often cost 50bucks a pop. And when you rlistening range is esoteric, it really adds up.
I have months where I don't listen to music at all except in the car (busy at home doing other things including other media like movies, games & TV). It's not a good deal if you don't use it.
Meanwhile, let's see. 800 albums over let's say 30 years. At let's say $12 a month (averaging your $10-15 example), that would be $4200 over 30 years for digital streaming for that time (making a hell of an assumption about prices staying constant) and 800 albums at an average of $10 for digital albums to buy and you're $8000 total. Personally, I doubt most "average" people ever bought anywhere near 800 albums in their lifetime and certainly wouldn't listen to them that much. I have closer to 400 CDs plus a few dozen LPs and some digital singles as well, maybe 5000 songs worth total in iTunes. 500 total albums puts that figure at $5000 compared to $4200 for streaming at $12 (or $5400 at $15). Suddenly, the figures don't look so far off, after all.
Now how many of those songs would you actually LISTEN to? Half? One fourth? I say that because I have gobs of albums where I only like a song or two and after the first few listens, skipped the rest, but I still had to pay for them for all that time and that is the beauty of streaming. If you don't like something, you can find something else.
SM: I'm confused by what you're trying to say. I think we agree? For the casual user, streaming is a good deal it seems. It gives them access to a massive collection of music compared to anoraks like us who want to collect the buggers. The casual user can get one album per month or access to a huge library of music that will only grow over time. To be honest, the 10 bucks per month seems reasonable if it gives you access to DL the content offline and listen when you want without using bandwidth/data. And I really believe that for more and more young people music is extremely disposable. Far more than it has ever been due to social media and the way the world interacts now.
I don't subscribe because I already own 5000+ songs and I don't get off listening to random crap on the radio. I want to hear music I actually LIKE. And if I like it, I probably already bought it.
SM: Yeah. Same. But I can't understand why young people aren't signing up. It really isn't expensive at 10 bucks a month. Anyway, enjoy your music!
