This is why...this is a great hobby

[Rexp]

8 hours ago, Archimago said:

 

Absolutely. There was a time when artists, audio engineers, and record labels seemed to know how to judge "good sound".

 

It's very sad how despite production technology improving, playback systems improving, so many artists these days - probably all in the popular music genre - have not been able to release albums with good sound in recent decades.

 

Despite all our audiophile debates and inordinate amounts of time spent on silly stuff like $$$$ cables, MQA, 24-bits, high samplerates, etc. I get the feeling that we simply have not been focusing enough on the importance of the recording/production quality itself. All the while, remasters have been released to the public typically with even worse sound and lower dynamic range than the originals. Notice how few words have been spent in the pages of Stereophile or TAS addressing the issue of poor dynamic range or actually being critical of inherently poor sonic quality in the albums these days.

 

If there is one thing audiophiles could do that is of benefit to all music lovers, it would be to make sure listeners, and the music industry are well aware of the concerns we have about what they release. I have a feeling that artists and the Industry these days are just thinking about the short term sales of albums, or creating hype for live performances (whenever those restart again).

 

Maybe one day they will take sound quality seriously to create a product with longevity done with skill and of enduring quality again. But I doubt that can happen without a groundswell of music lovers complaining online, Industry media publishing articles about this, streaming companies hearing from fans that they're streaming a poor mastering, and fans hounding their favourite artists about improving the sound of their recordings.

 

Imagine if all those product reviews hyping the sound quality of MQA instead took a snipe at poor remaster quality instead, reminding readers to actually fight a worthwhile battle instead of promulgating a scam. Alas, one can only dream... :-)

 

Wow, I agree with you! Thats a first. Its all about the recording/mastering. 

[Rexp]

46 minutes ago, sandyk said:

   Jud

 Are those who subscribe to these services in effect resulting in the paying of  "slave wages" to many artists , or don't most subscribers care ?
 This extract from the attached link worries me.

 

Regards

Alex

https://www.planetarygroup.com/do-artists-get-paid-every-time-song-played-spotify/

Yes this is the problem, some Artists are better off using Youtube and Bandcamp.