Music streaming services
Do you like music as much as I do? Does music accompany you when you are happy, sad, angry, or sick?
Music plays a major role in my life. It helps to concentrate, change a mindset, and relax. I find something in any genre that exists. And, of course, I have a guitar in order to immerse myself in music even deeper.
That’s why I’ve recently quit the music streaming industry. After being a regular ‘donor’ of Apple Music, Spotify, and others, less popular, for more than 5 years, I’ve stopped. Can you imagine how hard it was? All albums, and carefully collected tracks have become nothing. Once I stopped paying, I was left with nothing.
Music in my life
My childhood was spent under the auspices of constantly changing technologies. When I was very young, we used cassette tape players to listen to music. I remember having a huge box full of cassettes. Before going somewhere far away, like camping, I spent a few hours re-recording songs into a single tape that I liked to have a favorite collection nearby (it was possible to override songs on a tape several times — from radio or simply copying from another cassette).
Then, the era of CD discs came. My friends and I constantly exchanged CD disks with games and music. I carefully collected my music collections on a hard drive. Who am I kidding — my music folder was like a trash can. I copied everything, that I could, without any categorization. That’s how recommendations worked back then — through a network of friends and people you know.
Next, ADSL became widely accessible and my provider set up an FTP server with several terabytes of storage with games, books, movies, and, of course, music. I was unspeakably glad. My collection grew a lot and I became familiar with all types of genres. Eight after that, I bought a tiny player Sony Walkman NW-E394 to have an access to music anywhere, to which I uploaded new songs once a week or two. For some reason, I still remember, that it had 4 Gb aboard, although, I didn’t use it for more than 12 years. Since that time I fell in love with The Beatles, Alkaline Trio, and Metallica.
The Internet kept growing, the quality and speed increased by multiple and streaming services developed. It was a drastic change and looked like magic. You don’t need to download any music in advance. Every music you can listen to instantly. More than this, you have recommendations, collections, and playlists, collected by other people and constantly updated. After several years of using streaming services, it is hard to go out without headphones and it became as ordinary as communication.
Streaming era
Everything has two sides. As well as all-accessible music.
Ownership. You don’t have songs or albums — you only have access to the club. Services and music copyright holders have an agreement and they are paid every time you listen to a song. At some point, the copyright holder may stop renewing the agreement and end-users will suffer. Imagine, that suddenly, regardless of your control, you can no longer listen to your favorite band’s album.
Restrictions. This is related to the first point. Not every song is accessible through a streaming service. There are restrictions by the law and copyright, some artists simply ignore certain streaming music services (not so popular) and it forces you to use others.
Always online. Using these services implies that you have a constant internet connection. It happens with me from time to time — when I’m already on a plane, I frantically download songs, so as not to get bored during a flight.
Moving forward
Nowadays, I’ve realized, that I don’t spend so much time listening to music. A payment just slips from my bank account once a month and I barely listen to 2–3 songs. On top of that, sometimes, I listen to classical music and you don’t need to pay for it, for copyrights.
So, I’ve decided to get back to basics and start actually owning songs, and albums as long as I want. By reducing the flow, I’ve found myself enjoying music more. I like to collect them, be picky. I’ve decided to switch back on a completely new level — collecting vinyl records.
Recently, I bought a vinyl record player, that opened a whole new world and new pleasure for my ears. Although vinyl records are quite expensive, that is their advantage at the same time — you should focus on what really matters and it gives you time to delve deeper into albums, artists and the history behind the music.
Note: I do not belong to this group of people who consider the sound from vinyl to be tube and somehow special. Although the sound is really different (I’m not saying, it’s better or worse), I like having contact with music and remembering and naming all albums, that I have).
It was a long journey to the point where I realized the essence of music. An excessive choice humiliates performers, and artists and makes their work something ephemeral. Maybe someday I’ll get back to streaming services and will chase new songs constantly, but for now, I want to slow down and feel the music, enjoy owning it, listen, and re-listen.
Have you ever had something as strange as a tape player? Do you use streaming services or prefer an ‘old-school’ way?
