Streaming services

[AllanAllen]

And while we’re at it, who died and made you the maturity police? Imagine lecturing strangers about how they’re allowed to speak while being a pedantic, dismissive know-it-all. SMH.

If you’re going to demand people behave the way you think they should, maybe start by actually understanding what they said first. Cuz right now you’re not arguing with me my dude, you’re arguing with a version of my comment that exists entirely in your own head.

[Average Joe]

I still have spotify. It's just convenient in any number of ways. Fidelity isn't ideal, but then a good many of the listening situations in which I use it aren't conductive to that either. And playlists are a godsend for some artists. I also use youtube for the same reason, and because it's a goldmine for live recordings, tv shows etc, that never were never released as albums/audio.

I still buy physical media, because I like to be able to curate my collection. And you can only truly curate what you own. Too often streaming services take stuff down, e.g. the other day Spotify removed the old Scofield/Abercrombie album. It shouldn't be up to Spotify what I may listen to.

[AllanAllen]

Spotify also took down Ed Bickert & Don Thompson at the Garden Party. Which is devastating because the only LP copy on eBay is $180 and ships from Japan.

[acoustic_archtop]

That makes sense in a philosophical sense I guess, but i do find it surprising coming from a musician... I thought all of us from hobbyists to pros care about sound - or is it just the sound we make that matters?

In terms of sound quality, for me the difference that i care about is in clarity and dynamic range vs. the compressed nature of MP3s and OGGs which, to use the a common cliche, feel like a blanket over the speakers. While I do listen to rap, EDM, synthwave, most of what i listen to is jazz, blues and rock so I want to hear real instruments sound as real and well defined as possible.
When it comes to recording/engineering quality, I'm not sure I can make an informed take yet, but if it sounds natural, "airy", if I can imagine the position of the instruments on stage i'm happy; but I'm equally happy with old recordings as long as the sound quality is there.




Yep, looks like this might be the way to go... curate your own library and hope SSDs don't fail :P

Ha. I don't know ONE musician that is an audiophile. And, I don't know ANY audiophile's that are serious musicians.

It's an expensive pursuit.

[acoustic_archtop]

And I am aware that artists do need to claim their pages on streaming platforms for even more control and to add info about concerts, merch and so on.

Huh??? What do you mean 'claim their pages' How does that work?

Do you think John McLaughlin is going to get an id and password from Tidal so he can open his laptop, login and use the 'artist interface' to manage his page?? Start editing and deleting stuff that somehow got added without his knowledge? Do you think he's regularly going to every platform to manage and 'claim his pages' and fixing everything out there? Did you really think about what you wrote before you wrote it?

Just stop. Please.

[acoustic_archtop]

[QUOTE=Average Joe;1452996 It shouldn't be up to Spotify what I may listen to.[/QUOTE]

They aren't telling you what you can/can't listen to. They're in charge of what's on their platform though.

[acoustic_archtop]

Spotify also took down Ed Bickert & Don Thompson at the Garden Party. Which is devastating because the only LP copy on eBay is $180 and ships from Japan.

Are you familiar with Discogs???

[AllanAllen]

Huh??? What do you mean 'claim their pages' How does that work?

Do you think John McLaughlin is going to get an id and password from Tidal so he can open his laptop, login and use the 'artist interface' to manage his page?? Start editing and deleting stuff that somehow got added without his knowledge? Do you think he's regularly going to every platform to manage and 'claim his pages' and fixing everything out there? Did you really think about what you wrote before you wrote it?

Just stop. Please.

If he doesn't, his manager or music publishing agent should be. Whoever collects the royalty checks for him should be doing it.

John McLaughlin doesn't seem like the type of musician who does nothing and hopes the phone will ring.
Sorry you think being a musician isn't running a small business, but it is. I'm just a nobody with 2-3 gigs a month and most of my time is spent on logistics instead of music. If someone needs a sub, that can eat 3-4 hours trying to find someone. I can't even remember the last time I practiced for more than 45 minutes.

If running the band eats up that much of my time, I can't imagine how much time it takes from someone who is successful.

[jazzloverfat]

This AI bullshit is polluting the digital world and the physical world.

But it’s not an A.I. generated track based on the artist. It’s just something different entirely released under the name.

It’s really puzzling why someone would do it to Barney Kessell, like someone forging one dollar bills. What’s the point, just get a job.

Yeah it's insane, the more I dig in, the more scum and villainy I find, like all sorts of dodgy distribution/copyright enforcing services that release 30+ song albums under an artist's name, usually old or dead and which claim - as part of their services - something along the idea of tracking copyrighted songs and holding royalties for the right owner ?!?!?!?!

Also, I just remembered a couple of years ago I noticed something weird on Pink Floyd’s page across three different streaming platforms: albums with generic cover art were showing up as recent uploads and so given priority over the traditional ones. The same thing happened with Queen. They’ve all since disappeared. I didn’t think much of it at the time, but in hindsight I’m wondering whether someone might have been trying something shady with these bands given 1) how popular they are and 2) that their target audience is often older and not always very literate when it comes to the internets or distinguishing what’s real from what isn’t.

So yeah... things be pretty fucked...

Latest from Tidal btw was that they will send it to the relevant department to investigate further ... I sent a request for an update, see if they have anything to add.



Regarding alternatives, I want a service that is fair and free from the issues discussed here... yes i know, the innocence of youth xD but I don't wanna support crappy business practices. And the more I dig into this stuff, the more I wanna ditch them completely...
So over the weekend I did an experiment when I drove to the beach: downloaded some music and put it on the phone to listen to in the car. While the quality is there and perhaps a bit better than Tidal's (i went with 24/96 files), there is a bit of a hassle on a few things: getting the music, starting it manually, and then once the album is done use the phone to select the next album (the app i'm suing for bit-perfect playback doesnt show up in Android Auto T_T). Also music discovery is pretty good, and I'll give Tidal this - it never fed me crap in the generated playlist once an album finished playing.

So there is my conundrum ... be a slave to convenience, easily discover new music AND support shady practices or DIY music consumption....

Spotify also took down Ed Bickert & Don Thompson at the Garden Party. Which is devastating because the only LP copy on eBay is $180 and ships from Japan.

I can DM link if u want for a nice lossless rip

Huh??? What do you mean 'claim their pages' How does that work? Do you think John McLaughlin is going to get an id and password from Tidal so he can open his laptop, login and use the 'artist interface' to manage his page?? Did you really think about what you wrote before you wrote it?

Unlike some, I do my homework before making comments. Look up Spotify for Artists, Apple Music for Artists, Tidal Artist Home, etc. etc. etc. I don't have the patience to explain 21st century marketing to every single person.... so trust me bro, that's how it works xD. See AllanAllen's reply for more details.

[jazzloverfat]

i am so done lmao

what in dog's name is this bullshit ?!?!




or this, poor Hiromi's being spoofed again





I bought a 512GB microSD card for my phone and I'm downloading my music from now on... How ironic that pirate sites have strict guidelines and QC checks when it comes to the uploads.