I've just sold 3000 CDs - and i don't care!!

[walpurgis]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1D1H3JwuigY

[jandl100]

Fair enough - you need to stay with physical media for now.

[Macca]

"Another point that strikes me, is that the selections made for streaming availablity are a form of control. Basically, if what you want to hear is not commercial enough for the vendor to make money from, you ain't getting it! Our listening will become homogenised, so it fits 'their' model of what people should hear. "

Good point Geoff, and one which extends to many areas in life; how often do you find a very good product has gone because it was either not commercial, or was perhaps politically controversial?

This happened with Safeway wholemeal muffins, delicious and good nutrition, but not popular.

Look at what has been done to heretical music by PWL and Simon Cowell; hi-jacked, cloned and made kitshe and mediocre with nothing to say. Mainstream TV is now IMO all non controversial banality.

Have to disagree. In the old days you were restricted to buying what the shop sold, or what was available mail order. Record companies did not give contracts to artists they did not think would sell. Now anyone can make music and release it to the world via the internet. Okay it won't be available on Spotify or Tidal but it is available. That is a good thing, surely?

[walpurgis]

Fair enough - you need to stay with physical media for now.

We shall see in the long run.

The performers mentioned are not representative of my general listening, but I do enjoy giving them a blast now and then.

[walpurgis]

it won't be available on Spotify or Tidal

That was my point.

[montesquieu]

Have to disagree. In the old days you were restricted to buying what the shop sold, or what was available mail order. Record companies did not give contracts to artists they did not think would sell. Now anyone can make music and release it to the world via the internet. Okay it won't be available on Spotify or Tidal but it is available. That is a good thing, surely?

For years I got BBC Music and the Grammophone to find out what was out there, and yes bought mail order. For classical, especially if you have particular specialist sub-genre interests (in my case Lieder, and some particular strands of early music) this was always necessary.

Actually I find the streaming services pretty good for :

1) finding new music - I go back and play something a few times then it's worth buying the CD or even tracking down the LP if it's available - I'm using Discogs a lot more than I used to, and

2) ruling things out - I think Spotify, if it was as comprehensive as it is now, could have saved me a lot of money over the years - though of course it's only been decent for Classical music relatively recently, it was rubbish a couple of years ago when I last looked (though there are still quite a few labels missing). I have quite a few records and CDs that have disappointed and never get played, and this might have been avoided to considerable degree.

[Macca]

For years I got BBC Music and the Grammophone to find out what was out there, and yes bought mail order. For classical, especially if you have particular specialist sub-genre interests (in my case Lieder, and some particular strands of early music) this was always necessary.

Actually I find the streaming services pretty good for :

1) finding new music - I go back and play something a few times then it's worth buying the CD or even tracking down the LP if it's available - I'm using Discogs a lot more than I used to, and

2) ruling things out - I think Spotify, if it was as comprehensive as it is now, could have saved me a lot of money over the years - though of course it's only been decent for Classical music relatively recently, it was rubbish a couple of years ago when I last looked (though there are still quite a few labels missing). I have quite a few records and CDs that have disappointed and never get played, and this might have been avoided to considerable degree.

I use You-Tube to check out music I might be interested in. Of course that does not have everything either.

I suppose we have to bear in mind that the Classical market is different to the market for popular music. Classical fans adopted the CD more quickly when that came out and still sustain production of SACD even though releases of popular music on that format dwindled to next to nothing a decade ago. Whole different ballgame.

I keep coming back to the psychological thing. A friend of mine said that he could happily sell his house and move into a hotel permanently, get rid of all possessions except the bare essentials (clothes, I suppose, and maybe a toothbrush and a razor) and get all his entertainment through a laptop. I can sort of see the attraction in the concept, it all sounds so clean and simple.

[montesquieu]

I use You-Tube to check out music I might be interested in. Of course that does not have everything either.

I suppose we have to bear in mind that the Classical market is different to the market for popular music. Classical fans adopted the CD more quickly when that came out and still sustain production of SACD even though releases of popular music on that format dwindled to next to nothing a decade ago. Whole different ballgame.

I keep coming back to the psychological thing. A friend of mine said that he could happily sell his house and move into a hotel permanently, get rid of all possessions except the bare essentials (clothes, I suppose, and maybe a toothbrush and a razor) and get all his entertainment through a laptop. I can sort of see the attraction in the concept, it all sounds so clean and simple.

I've spent far too much time travelling on business living out of hotels for that to be anything other than a complete nightmare!

[Macca]

I've spent far too much time travelling on business living out of hotels for that to be anything other than a complete nightmare!

You'd have to pick your hotel very carefully, that's true.

[Sherwood]

I use You-Tube to check out music I might be interested in. Of course that does not have everything either.

I suppose we have to bear in mind that the Classical market is different to the market for popular music. Classical fans adopted the CD more quickly when that came out and still sustain production of SACD even though releases of popular music on that format dwindled to next to nothing a decade ago. Whole different ballgame.

I keep coming back to the psychological thing. A friend of mine said that he could happily sell his house and move into a hotel permanently, get rid of all possessions except the bare essentials (clothes, I suppose, and maybe a toothbrush and a razor) and get all his entertainment through a laptop. I can sort of see the attraction in the concept, it all sounds so clean and simple.

I doubt your friend has spent that much time living "out of a suitcase" and that the experience would be sobering. I spent two years doing exactly this over a decade ago. I had just finished a long term contract in south asia and having sold my home in the UK several years earlier, decided no to return but to do short term consulting work until a new long term assignment came along. Basically, I was travelling the world between short term assignments, moving from hotel to hotel and continent to continent. Aside from 6 months spent in a serviced hotel in Bangkok, I was never in more than one place for a week or so at the most.

I know that this might sound attractive to many, and yes, I did get the opportunity for some wonderful travelling, but believe me, the attraction soon pales. I was so relieved when a suitable long term post came up and I could ditch the suitcases. As to enjoying music solely from a laptop, I cannot think of anything less appealling. Even now, with my cd collection ripped to flac and with a very high quality portable HD player, I would not relish the experience.

Geoff