Music: Own vs. Stream

To begin, I'm someone who loves music.  And while there are some bands I can never grow tired of, I really like discovering new music and keeping up with the latest trends in a variety of genres.  I have a vast catalog of music on my computer(s) that amounts to around 11,000 songs.  30+ days according to iTunes.  I have been wrestling with the idea of music ownership for a while now and thought I would write up a post discussing the direction of music to streaming services, possibly moving away from owning a copy on ones hard drive.

There isn't any doubt that with the dawn of Spotify in the U.S. and the appearance of Rdio in the last year that the trend is moving toward streaming.  My biggest hurdle... does subscribing to one of these services make my music collection amounting to thousands of dollars worth pretty much nothing?  That's a tough pill to swallow.  But I'm not sure I have a choice. On average I would say I buy 3 or 4 albums a month.  I usually try and wait for good deals on Amazon, but don't always.  So let's say I spend roughly $25 / month on music.  This typically satisfies my craving for new music, but not always.  And I rarely buy just one song which means I rarely own the latest pop hit.  So where am I going with this?  The typical all access streaming service costs about $10 / month, and gives you access to just about everything, even the guilty pleasures you wouldn't dare spend your hard earned money on.  Seems as though moving to a service like this is a no brainer.

A common question when it comes to streaming music is access.  Meaning will I be able to play my music wherever I am, even if there is no internet access.  The simple answer is yes.  These streaming services have a number of pricing tiers, and while about $5 / month gets you unlimited streaming, $10 / month provides you with the ability to download music and play when your offline (using approved applications and devices).  So if you own a smart phone you are good to go as that will usually allow you to play on most modern music playing devices.

So what are the down sides?  There are a few.  If your someone who still has a 5 disc carousel in the living room, and relies on the CD player in the car you pretty much out of luck.  You can't burn any of this music to a disc, at least not legally.  Another down side is the player.  I personally like iTunes as a media player, and there are other good ones out there as well.  With these services you typically won't be able to use this familiar software, which means the software provided needs to be really good since it will be all you can use.  If you regularly use AirPlay as a means of broadcasting audio, not having iTunes is a real problem.  There are alternatives though.  You can purchase for about $25 an application called AirFoil. This does a really slick job of replacing the AirPlay feature within iTunes, as a matter of fact I think it may be better.  So there is a little start up cost but this makes up for the money you'll likely save not buying albums.

Music as a service likely won't interest someone who is content listening to their existing collection and seldom buys new music.  So going this route isn't for everyone, and I don't think buying music outright will go away any time soon. An audiophile may not be interested in this approach either as the music is typically 128 and up bitrate quality.  It isn't loss-less, though technically neither are compact discs.  Still, shrinking 800 Mb down to 80 is going to sacrifice some music quality.  While I can tell a difference it isn't too big of an issue.  Plus a keen ear will only be able to hear a difference on really high end speakers.  Probably 95+% of listeners have average speakers or headphones, so this won't matter.  Additionally I expect the quality of these services to only increase as time goes on.

Listeners with a unique taste in music not found in most stores will still have options if they can't find their interests online.  Services like Spotify take your existing purchased library and integrates the music into the provided player.  This is a nice feature, though not all services do this.

I expect there to be a lot of development in this area of technology in the upcoming year.  There are small inconveniences with the various services that will hopefully be worked out.  As of writing this article only Rdio has an iPad app, and devices like Apple TV do not natively support browsing and playing these collections.  You do have the option of Air Play as I mentioned previously which is a big help for those with an iPad, Laptop, and in some cases a smart phone. Apple has iCloud coming out around the corner.  This makes use of your purchased music, and Apple has a lot of interest in selling albums via iTunes at fairly high rates, so I don't know how much cooperation there will be from them.  But they have surprised me before.

Lastly, I'll briefly touch on the music industry.  These kind of services will certainly cut down on pirated music which is a big plus.  Though the amount the artists are receiving is drastically smaller.  A while back I saw this info graphic which pretty much says it all. Bands trying to make it will need a fair amount of plays to be able to support themselves.  Though, I will say that in general I am a fan of the free market when it comes to these kind of things and I think the best bands will prevail.  It just means that some people who may have been able to get by before may have to get real jobs that the rest of us.

I have personally tried a few of these services.  I will be comparing a few of these services in an upcoming post.