U.S. Music Fans Continue Shift to Streaming Services as Apple Readies Beats Revamp

[Jsameds]

Are you referring to Spotify? Because that's not what it is. You can download and save any album to your devices. Their music catalogue has almost everything. The monthly fee is less than the cost of *one* album per month. What's not to like? Spotify is incredible.

I see where you're coming from but I disagree.

Buy 2nd hand CDs and most of them are $2 to 5 on Amazon, thats equivalent to around 3 albums per month on average compared to Spotify.

You get a physical copy that you can resell if you want that also acts as a backup, you get higher quality music, album artwork and zero DRM once ripped.

i see the convenience of Spotify is great, but it's a subscription so you're paying for life if you always want music.

 

[Quu]

I really like the idea of a streaming service that can create genius like playlists from a catalog of music the size of the iTunes store.

Just bring Beats Music to my country and I'll pay.

 

[Ljohnson72]

I see where you're coming from but I disagree.

Buy 2nd hand CDs and most of them are $2 to 5 on Amazon, thats equivalent to around 3 albums per month on average compared to Spotify.

You get a physical copy that you can resell if you want that also acts as a backup, you get higher quality music, album artwork and zero DRM once ripped.

i see the convenience of Spotify is great, but it's a subscription so you're paying for life if you always want music.

99% of consumers don't care about even higher quality music, album artwork, etc. They want a diverse collection at a low price that is instantly accessible.

 

[Oletros]

I see where you're coming from but I disagree.

Buy 2nd hand CDs and most of them are $2 to 5 on Amazon, thats equivalent to around 3 albums per month on average compared to Spotify.

You get a physical copy that you can resell if you want that also acts as a backup, you get higher quality music, album artwork and zero DRM once ripped.

i see the convenience of Spotify is great, but it's a subscription so you're paying for life if you always want music.

How much would have cost me the more than 60 different albums I have listened the last month on Spotify and Google Music for 16 euro?

 

[hkenneth]

99% of consumers don't care about even higher quality music, album artwork, etc. They want a diverse collection at a low price that is instantly accessible.

Still not as diverse as I want. Last time I checked, there aren't many Japanese songs in their collection. For physical copies, there is no such limitation.

 

[dontwalkhand]

Apple has some huge opportunities in this area. Streaming is here to stay.

The resurgence of vinyl is interesting. Probably a trendy flash rather than a long-term outlook.

although vinyl may possess superior sound quality, I still believe this uptick of vinyl sales is due to that "hipster apple look"

 

[nazaar]

99% of consumers don't care about even higher quality music, album artwork, etc. They want a diverse collection at a low price that is instantly accessible.

Guess I'm the 1%.

 

[jeffe]

I see where you're coming from but I disagree.

Buy 2nd hand CDs and most of them are $2 to 5 on Amazon, thats equivalent to around 3 albums per month on average compared to Spotify.

You get a physical copy that you can resell if you want that also acts as a backup, you get higher quality music, album artwork and zero DRM once ripped.

i see the convenience of Spotify is great, but it's a subscription so you're paying for life if you always want music.

Why not do both? Buy albums when you see a good deal and pay the $8.00-$12.00 / month to a subscription service.

 

[Patriot24]

Still not as diverse as I want. Last time I checked, there aren't many Japanese songs in their collection. For physical copies, there is no such limitation.

Which is fine, but your desire to listen to Japanese music is not the norm in the U.S.

Your corner case does not invalidate the mainstream use case.

 

[dontwalkhand]

Which is fine, but your desire to listen to Japanese music is not the norm in the U.S.

Your corner case does not invalidate the mainstream use case.

I'll one up you on this- try listening to Cambodian music on iTunes or buy CDs- you either have to get the CDs from Cambodian communities in California/NYC, or get the songs illegally.

 

[jwdsail]

I guess I'm old, or just don't get it...

I guess I'm old, or just don't get it...

I'll never understand "renting" music. I can't begin to see the appeal, I don't see any value.

If I want a semi-random stream of audio that I may or may not like, or be in the mood to listen to at any given moment, I already have that, it's called a radio... it's not dependent on an internet connection, and it's FREE.

I'll gladly pay to have the songs I actually like, stored on my devices, organized in playlists I can choose based on my mood, and not have to pay a monthly fee, and not be at the mercy of an internet connection and it's reliability (or lack of).

I can't begin to understand where anyone sees the value in the music rental business. Seems like flushing cash down the toilet to me.

Of course, I completely understand companies like Apple rushing to take money from suckers that are willing, hell eager even, to rent music.

Shrug.

Oh yeah..

And git off my lawn!

 

[GangstaGehard]

With streaming use growing, what does that mean for cell providers and their data caps or the price to gigabyte ratio?

Since albums generally cost 10 dollars a month (and more), Google Play Music was a no brainer for me since I would generally buy 2 a month.

Its a great service that places music 'ownership' or user libraries first rather than radio with album/track saving.
I would love Apple to offer a similar service since their foreign selection is much better than Google Play.

 

[happywaiman]

Wake me when the streaming market crash
Seriously, when the users feel it's a bargain and you don't lost money, either the suppliers(in this case: labels) or your investors lost.
The traditional streaming model is: you can't control what's playing (unless you are the DJ), and all you can do is changing stations, or tolerate a song or two.
I get the model "you are the sponsor, you don't need to listen to yourself", what I don't get is Spotify.
Spotify is basically the music version of Netflix.
But what they are extremely undercharged: Netflix charge $8/month, about ½ of buying a HD movie.
Spotify cover at least 100 times amount of songs (average user could watch about 5-10 movie, but playing 500-1000 songs/month is average amount people expect), so they should charge at least $50 to cover the cost (½ of 100 songs, each play 10 times)
But due to a loophole in the DOJ antitrust settlement, Spotify only need to pay the same amount radio station does, while giving end-user the choice to play whatever they want like Netflix.

Sooner or later, music labels will notice they actually loosing money using this model (I remember someone CEO did), and lobby the government to force all digital streaming service pay an highly-rised royalties.
At that time, let's talk about how music fans are continue shift to streaming service.

 

[mrnoglue]

Its amazing how parents have failed to educate their children in regards paying for what amounts to a glorified radio station.

Paying for personalized radio without ads, or in the case of spotify, leasing a huge selection of music? Can you really not see the value proposition?

 

[Zxxv]

I guess I'm old, or just don't get it...

I'll never understand "renting" music. I can't begin to see the appeal, I don't see any value.

If I want a semi-random stream of audio that I may or may not like, or be in the mood to listen to at any given moment, I already have that, it's called a radio... it's not dependent on an internet connection, and it's FREE.

I'll gladly pay to have the songs I actually like, stored on my devices, organized in playlists I can choose based on my mood, and not have to pay a monthly fee, and not be at the mercy of an internet connection and it's reliability (or lack of).

I can't begin to understand where anyone sees the value in the music rental business. Seems like flushing cash down the toilet to me.

Of course, I completely understand companies like Apple rushing to take money from suckers that are willing, hell eager even, to rent music.

Shrug.

Oh yeah..

And git off my lawn!

Paying for personalized radio without ads, or in the case of spotify, leasing a huge selection of music? Can you really not see the value proposition?

No I don't get it. Im paying for you to advertise to me.

 

[KUguardgrl13]

I guess I'm old, or just don't get it...

I'll never understand "renting" music. I can't begin to see the appeal, I don't see any value.

If I want a semi-random stream of audio that I may or may not like, or be in the mood to listen to at any given moment, I already have that, it's called a radio... it's not dependent on an internet connection, and it's FREE.

I'll gladly pay to have the songs I actually like, stored on my devices, organized in playlists I can choose based on my mood, and not have to pay a monthly fee, and not be at the mercy of an internet connection and it's reliability (or lack of).

I can't begin to understand where anyone sees the value in the music rental business. Seems like flushing cash down the toilet to me.

Of course, I completely understand companies like Apple rushing to take money from suckers that are willing, hell eager even, to rent music.

Shrug.

Oh yeah..

And git off my lawn!

I feel you, and I'm 23. Most of the time when I listen to music, it's fm radio in my car. I hardly ever take out my iPod or plug headphones into my iPhone anymore. Most of the time I just don't think about it. I discover new music on the radio, and they'll play those songs probably more than 50 times a day. No need to buy it or stream it when I hear it all the time for free.

My problem is also the fact that I'm highly invested in iTunes, and I don't want to use a bunch of data or lose storage to a third party app with offline downloading. Not to mention the fact that Spotify's offline downloads are only good for 30 days.

Quite honestly I spend less money in a year Buying the occasional song on iTunes than I would paying for Spotify. I also like to have more control over when my money is spent on something than a subscription would allow.

 

[kerrikins]

I still don't get the appeal of streaming services, at least for music... But then again, I tend towards wanting to own content rather than pay monthly for the right to access it without having it permanently. I do the same with TV & movies - I use Netflix for all the stuff that I wouldn't want to own, but I still purchase a lot. I guess some people don't care that it's not permanent..

 

[i-John]

ugh just goes to show how little people these days care about music. I want to OWN the music i listen to and just have my albums as always

You never owned the music you listened to. You had a license to play it, whether it be on a disc or iTunes download

 

[jonnyb098]

I see the appeal of streaming radio as its really great for discovering new music. Much more than any FM station will give you playing the same 100 songs for weeks on end.

But like any digital subscription. It could be here today, gone tomorrow. There is absolutely no guarantee spotify, etc. will be around in say 20, 30 + years. The nice thing about having YOUR OWN music in some fashion is that it never goes away. Just like movies. Netflix just dumped a ton of movies on Jan1.

HERE TODAY GONE TOMORROW.

 

[Iconoclysm]

There appears to be a lot of misunderstanding of how services like Spotify and Beats actually work.

If you need tracks available to you offline, you simply download them to your device and listen to them as desired. This is no different than syncing your iPod with tracks that you purchased in iTunes. The added benefit is that if there is a song you forgot to bring along you can get it at any time if you so choose. In our increasingly mobile world, this model is rich with value to a large percentage of the market.

The only benefit of Spotify in this case is that you have access to a lot of music you don't own. Everything else can be done with every cloud based music service out there.

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You never owned the music you listened to. You had a license to play it, whether it be on a disc or iTunes download

People don't seem to grasp that.

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99% of consumers don't care about even higher quality music, album artwork, etc. They want a diverse collection at a low price that is instantly accessible.

80% of all statistics are made up on the spot and wrong.

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How much would have cost me the more than 60 different albums I have listened the last month on Spotify and Google Music for 16 euro?

If you didn't already own those albums in the past? Not sure...but I can bet that if they are 60 albums you didn't own previously, someone should have paid YOU to listen to them.

 

[topmounter]

I see where you're coming from but I disagree.

Buy 2nd hand CDs and most of them are $2 to 5 on Amazon, thats equivalent to around 3 albums per month on average compared to Spotify.

You get a physical copy that you can resell if you want that also acts as a backup, you get higher quality music, album artwork and zero DRM once ripped.

i see the convenience of Spotify is great, but it's a subscription so you're paying for life if you always want music.

A large percentage of my Spotify listening is for discovery. If something sticks, then I'll buy the vinyl, cd (and rip it to FLAC) or the lossless download.

I also find myself listening to music I already own on Spotify when I'm on the go and don't want to bother with my iPod.

I'll be curious to see what Apple does with the Beats streaming service and whether it can replace Spotify for me.

 

[vixster1901]

Hey Gang, I thought you would get a kick out of this… long but worthy regard dr dre! happy new year
here's the link if it sticks!
http://www.humansofnewyork.com/post/106926520971/my-wife-and-i-were-both-on-the-six-figure-plan-i

“My wife and I were both on the six figure plan. I was thinking that if I could get to $100,000 a year, I’d be all right. I studied information systems and economics in college. I had a decent paying job at the 311 call center. Every morning I’d wake up early then fall back asleep on the subway. It was like that Groundhog’s Day movie. The ‘deferred life plan’ wasn’t working for me. Everyone kept telling me that all I needed was another master’s degree, or another certification, but I was done with it. So I quit my job and decided to be a musician. I turned off the TV. I turned off the radio. I devoted myself full time to music. I’d never played an instrument before, so I found some YouTube videos that taught me basic chord progressions on guitar and keyboard. I was really bad for a long time. I wondered if I’d made a mistake. But when I listened to the early work of famous musicians like Dr. Dre, they weren’t that good either. I thought: ‘I’m just as smart as them. And they were like me once. So if they got there, so can I.’ I started driving a cab so I could control my own hours. I’d get off at 2 AM and make music until 5 AM, but I’d still wake up happy because life had a purpose now. I called my first album ‘Better Than Fantastic,’ because that’s how it felt. I’ve handed out 10,000 of them. I give one to everyone who rides in the cab.”

 

[Iconoclysm]

Hey Gang, I thought you would get a kick out of this… long but worthy regard dr dre! happy new year
here's the link if it sticks!
http://www.humansofnewyork.com/post/106926520971/my-wife-and-i-were-both-on-the-six-figure-plan-i

“My wife and I were both on the six figure plan. I was thinking that if I could get to $100,000 a year, I’d be all right. I studied information systems and economics in college. I had a decent paying job at the 311 call center. Every morning I’d wake up early then fall back asleep on the subway. It was like that Groundhog’s Day movie. The ‘deferred life plan’ wasn’t working for me. Everyone kept telling me that all I needed was another master’s degree, or another certification, but I was done with it. So I quit my job and decided to be a musician. I turned off the TV. I turned off the radio. I devoted myself full time to music. I’d never played an instrument before, so I found some YouTube videos that taught me basic chord progressions on guitar and keyboard. I was really bad for a long time. I wondered if I’d made a mistake. But when I listened to the early work of famous musicians like Dr. Dre, they weren’t that good either. I thought: ‘I’m just as smart as them. And they were like me once. So if they got there, so can I.’ I started driving a cab so I could control my own hours. I’d get off at 2 AM and make music until 5 AM, but I’d still wake up happy because life had a purpose now. I called my first album ‘Better Than Fantastic,’ because that’s how it felt. I’ve handed out 10,000 of them. I give one to everyone who rides in the cab.”

LOL! But seriously, having a career in music these days is like gambling with a 99.99999999% chance you'll end up being a complete failure.

 

[MCDELTAT]

Vinyl Comeback

It's really hard to gauge the interest or strength of vinyl records. Millennial speaking, I personally buy all my music on vinyl. Theres something just interesting about sitting down to listen to an album. It adds to the artform. There are a ton of bands that are adding it to ever release they do.

So I usually use spotify, youtube, or bandcamp to find bands I like and once I've listened to an album about 3-4 times I consider it buying it for my vinyl collection. But I would never pay for a streaming service.... I don't really mind the ads on spotify but I hate that the iOS version shuffles everything, instead it usually just forces me onto my computer where an album plays in order.

 

[subjonas]

You never owned the music you listened to. You had a license to play it, whether it be on a disc or iTunes download

You don't own the rights to the music itself, but with CDs you do own the CD. And you're free to sell or give it away when you're done listening, or pass your entire collection down to your kids. That's what we're missing with music downloads as well as with streaming. They are long term rentals that don't put much weight on the future. Not to mention the lower quality sound. These are the reasons that I personally stick to CDs.