https://coryd.dev/posts/2024/renting-your-music-means-accepting-that-it-will-disappear/ Cory Dransfeldt * Now * About * * * * * Renting your music means accepting that it will disappear Cory Dransfeldt February 9, 2024 When I was using Apple Music I had a smart playlist that would surface music that was no longer available on the service and having to do that sums up one of the many problems with music streaming services. It's not really your collection -- you're renting it and your collection only exists on that service. If it disappears, your collection disappears. When I was using Apple Music I had a smart playlist that would surface music that was no longer available on the service and having to do that sums up one of the many problems with music streaming services. It's not really your collection -- you're renting it and your collection only exists on that service. If it disappears, your collection disappears. I have a similar fear about albums I've purchased on Bandcamp disappearing after the company was sold (yet again). I've developed the habit of downloading my purchases there as 320kbps mp3s and FLAC files for archiving. That archive lives on a hard drive velcroed to the back of my monitor and gets mirrored to a remote backup. I worry about that drive failing, but I'll have the backup. I still have remnants of my old CD collection, but I did sell quite a few CDs to Amoeba in Hollywood when I needed the money. I regretted it for a time, but I had digital copies and, in hindsight, don't think I'd want to store them all now. The only device I have to play them now is an old Blu-ray player sitting in our entertainment center. I've streamed my own music and that was mostly fine -- you keep your library, upload it and access it. It wasn't quite as reliable as I liked and still leaves you a step removed from your collection (there aren't many viable music lockers either). I'm listening to my music locally now and that's required evaluating what I should have in a structured library to actively listen to rather than the archive on my drive. I don't have to worry about a streaming service going down, a license agreement lapsing, metadata shifting as a service updates it's catalogue (how many entries in your library have been replaced by some unnecessary remaster?). There's a degree of maintenance, but what I listen to isn't constrained by a service I rent my collection from and hope doesn't go away. I'll freely admit that I have listening habits that don't align with the way streaming services (Spotify in particular) present music. I've never become accustomed to playlists and will, instead, put on full albums in a queue. I've only ever browsed playlists of new releases as a means to find new albums I may have missed (to be listened to in full). I keep a calendar of upcoming albums and, again, archive them and listen to them. If I'm dissatisfied with a release, I remove it from my library and keep it in my archive. Maybe listening via playlists that are designed to fit a mood lets you move with a shifting catalogue, the playlist remains updated as releases fall out of the broader catalogue and that rot in what you're renting goes unnoticed. I find myself, instead, looking for albums that fit a mood or putting new releases on repeat to commit the nuances of an album to memory. If I'm reading or working I drift towards extreme metal where the lyrics are unintelligible and don't distract. If I'm cooking or doing something that requires less focus, intelligible lyrics return and I'll settle into Tom Waits' earlier work or something newer and acoustic. I don't change what I listen to all that much and it's rare that a new artist lands in my collection. I'm not as interested in a new band that sounds like an old one when I can go back and listen to the band that originated that sound. Maybe I'm just old (that's fine too!). Streaming is, unarguably, convenient -- but, it means you no longer have a collection you control. It means that what you can listen to is subject to the financial concerns of the streaming platform and it means that artists get paid less and less as streaming rates change. I don't have a compelling solution and, perhaps, one isn't needed given how widely adopted and accepted streaming is. I know I've lost interest in the model and I'm concerned for music (and media broadly) as it becomes commodified and availability remains a moving target. music tech Apple Spotify Reposts Shannon Prickett Jake Beamer saraaaaargh yr local funk dealer :itsit: Music Feed Technology Most Resplendent Bat Likes stratlantic saraaaaargh Gregory Pittman Jake Beamer CosmicBlaze Comments Jake Beamer @cory rad post. I of course agree, as we've talked about this- I almost have a post ready to go on how I FIND new music.. which is something a couple people mentioned here. Yeah, I'm about that local play. For example, a ridiculous Boltcutter mp3 is playing from my 'jukebox' Windows 7 machine that sits next to me as I work 02.09.2024 CosmicBlaze @cory I love my collection in the physical form but understand why people use streaming platforms but it's not for everyone so I'll keep looking out for cds in charity shops and second hand stores, enjoy your music and happy Friday everyone 02.09.2024 Cory :prami_pride_demi: @jake4480 thank you! I'm still in the same mode of discovering music via lineup connections on Metallum, RateYourMusic and last.fm is still great (funny that recommending what fans of a band also like works so well haha). I've got my library loaded up on my laptop that's usually docked and my phone. My iPad is for reading/browsing/ watching stuff. 02.09.2024 Cory :prami_pride_demi: @CosmicBlaze oh yeah, I get that -- I've got some favorites on vinyl too, but locally stored music hits a really nice balance for me. I've also got entirely too many band shirts as a way to support artists too 02.09.2024 Jake Beamer @cory nice. I use a weird mix of Instagram (yuck, I know haha), Bandcamp, YouTube (more yuck) and recommendations here. I always have such a huge amount to hear and go through haha. I had to trim the mp3 /FLAC collection on this computer by about 10GB, it's filling up. Some kind of large drive again is probably the way I need to go. I have a bunch scattered on thumb drives but that's no way to live 02.09.2024 Cory :prami_pride_demi: @jake4480 haha yeah, I haven't been on anything Meta owns in *years*. Instagram breaks for me a lot with all the adblockers too. I'll use YouTube logged out for quick reference and I took a long time a while back and used Meta.app (on macOS -- unfortunate name I guess) and made all of my tagging, folders and file names consistent. Anything that gets moved to the library gets imported to Doppler on macOS first then copied to my phone. 02.09.2024 Jake Beamer @cory I use Instander (sideloaded Android APK) and it kills the ads. Otherwise yeah, it's unusable. I use FadBlock for Firefox for YouTube, which is wild, it doesn't BLOCK the ad, it plays one second of it so it registers as seen but it's just a tiny, barely noticeable blip and then the videos play. It's awesome hahaha 02.09.2024 Cory :prami_pride_demi: @jake4480 oh man that's awesome haha. I've got nextDNS running on my devices with blocklists plus AdGuard in the browser and Instagram gets cranky. YouTube usually works alright. 02.09.2024 Wolff @cory Great post! I find it hard to keep a digital collection of music anymore. However, you are making me want to go buy more analog copies with this post. 02.09.2024 Cory :prami_pride_demi: @seawolff thank you! It's a real challenge, but the consistency and reliability makes me happy -- my favorite band has never been on streaming outside of a compilation, so that was always a barrier as well. 02.09.2024 Popular posts * I don't want anything your AI generates * I found the music I love on the internet * I removed Tailwind from my site * My default apps, 2023 edition * Check in to your personal site Uses * Referrals * Blogroll * Speedlify * Stats