A Different Streaming Ecosystem

[The Computer Audiophile]

I’m listening to some fantastic albums on ECM records this morning and thinking about streaming services, content availability, and remuneration etc... I think I’d subscribe to a standalone streaming service offered by ECM because the content is so good and of such high quality. Then I started thinking about the lack of integration with such a service and the fact that ECM is a record label, not a streaming company. 
 

Then it hit me, I wonder why streaming services use all you can eat models, rather than the cable TV model where a provider offers different packages. If Qobuz offered an ECM package for an added fee every month, this would be easy for everyone and perhaps enable the label to make more money from consumers willing to pay. I know this isn’t a perfect model because packaged tv includes tons of programming nobody wants and people are leaving the model left and right. But, given the size of music labels and lack of technical ability to implement a service, let alone get hardware manufacturers to integrate with each service, this model may have some positive aspects. 

 

Thoughts?

[Ralf11]

I like and use "different packages" - things like CDs, downloads...

 

Streaming just doesn't do it for me, tho maybe if I was a kid with a phone and no collected music...

[The Computer Audiophile]

3 minutes ago, Ralf11 said:

I like and use "different packages" - things like CDs, downloads...

 

Streaming just doesn't do it for me, tho maybe if I was a kid with a phone and no collected music...

Interesting perspective and one I know many share. 
 

For me the ability to stream releases I would’ve never discovered or taken a chance on is amazing. It’s like a dream from when I thought we’d all be in flying cars by the year 2000. 

[Ralf11]

it gets back to how one finds 'leads' into new realms of music (or literature, art) to explore

 

my problem is not lack of those leads, it is time to pursue them

[charlesphoto]

Perhaps the record labels should be more proactive with the streaming services providing better metadata, artist bios, alternative artwork, playlists, specials, etc. I really couldn't see paying more for what's there already and people would cry bloody murder if you suddenly took it all away. 

[The Computer Audiophile]

36 minutes ago, charlesphoto said:

Perhaps the record labels should be more proactive with the streaming services providing better metadata, artist bios, alternative artwork, playlists, specials, etc. I really couldn't see paying more for what's there already and people would cry bloody murder if you suddenly took it all away. 

I’d love more everything. Booklets no longer cost more if they are larger, so give us great PDFs with images etc...

 

Right now it’s just a label dump truck that backs up to Amazon and dumps tracks. Very Walmart-esque. 

[AudioDoctor]

Right now I wish more record labels would stop being their own worst enemies and embrace the present instead of being stuck in the past with their walled gardens.

 

I guess you can't get your 15th solid gold Lamborghini that way though...

[nbpf]

I have tried Tidal, Qobuz and Idagio and I always cancelled my subscriptions after a few months. The subscription that lasted the longest was a Qobuz Sublime that I cancelled after a little more than one year.

 

I do not plan to go back to internet streaming services as long as these services do not offer a means of organizing favorites in folders and sub-folders or of tagging favorites. This is, in my view, the main deficiency of internet streaming services nowadays: you get access to a huge pool of contents but there is no way to group and list the content that you plan to listen to in a meaningful way. 

[Musicophile]

I really don't like the idea of individual labels offering streaming. Otherwise we'll quickly end up with the messy situation that we have in video streaming these days that you have to subscribe to 4-5 (if not more) services instead of one to get to all the content you want to see as everybody keeps their exclusive stuff. I love the idea of the all inclusive flatrate most current streaming providers give you.

[Qhwoeprktiyns]

I would like to see a service offering cloud storage for purchases from various sources, to avoid having to manage my own "infrastructure" at home, and benefit from my purchases when i am not at home. This would provide the convenience of streaming for those who prefer purchasing. 

[Qhwoeprktiyns]

I choose to own most of the music I like to listen to, partly because I have doubts about the viability of streaming services. I don't see how splintering services even more would improve things in that respect. 

 

But I struggle to understand why purchasing is not more widely available. 

 

Are labels hesitant for piracy issues? 

Or is it economic? 

I would be interested in understanding how the profit margins and marginal costs compare between various channels: sales of physical CDs or vinyls, downloads of albums (files), and royalties from streaming services.