from Hacker News

Streaming Is Stalling: Can Music Keep Up in the Attention Economy?

by vimes656 on 12/17/20, 6:25 PM with 205 comments

• by grawprog on 12/19/20, 7:57 AM

  Streaming music sucks. It might seem weird but I don't like it. The first music I ever 'owned' myself personally were songs I taped off the radio. After that I started pirating music the same way I would collect songs on the radio, after that I started buying CD's, today I buy songs and albums from artists and producers directly.

  Building playlists on a streaming service is not the same as building a music collection.

  Music discovery is easy, relying on a streaming service for discovery is lazy. What's hard is commitment. Taking time to explore the back catalogue of artists you like and taking the time to get to know music.

  When all you had was physical media, you listened to albums over and over got to know them, relished the new albums you purchased and had to take the time to decide between one or the other.

  When you heard a new song on the radio or through a friend, there was anticipation. You had to wait before you could listen on your own. Whether it was a slow download on icewire or that wait until you could go buy an album, acquiring music gave you something streaming music doesn't.

  It gave you forced limitation, which in turn I feel like led to a greater appreciation towards music. It wasn't just something tou consumed, it was something you waited for, finally acquired and then got to enjoy and became part of the rest of 'your music.'

• by throwaway13337 on 12/19/20, 6:23 AM

  An aspect here is that a lot more people are primarily on social media services like YouTube and twitch. The people they follow cannot play popular music because of DMCA take downs.

  The result is that a natural avenue for discovery music is cut off. Consumers will not associate the experience of the thing they're enjoying with the music as has traditionally been the case with TV, movies, and bars. The setting has a lot to do with growing attachment for that band or that song in the first place.

  The record companies are shooting themselves in the foot here.

  It's maybe a good thing - a new opportunity is open for a platform that allows a more permissive license. Artists that choose such would likely get a lot more exposure.

  Maybe the Beatles of the future will finally be creative commons as it should be. Their music is, after all, is bigger than the band. All popular music is a reflection of our collective memory and a common ground to connect with others. After a certain point in popularity, it becomes our collective cultural heritage - no company should own that.

• by oceanswave on 12/19/20, 5:21 AM

  I wonder if there is a link between DCMA crackdowns and the decline of the music industry. Posit: with consumers watching more community produced content and that content prohibited from including traditionsl music sources that consumers may then seek out, then a result might be a decline in the traditional music sources. This might also apply to commercially produced content that doesn’t include music for fear of false flagging.

• by randycupertino on 12/19/20, 5:09 AM

  I think less people commuting during the pandemic and sheltering in place probably corresponded to less hours streaming music. My biggest use of spotify was when I commuted and now that I wfh I rarely even open the app. I've been finding audiobooks more relaxing lately than music, not entirely sure why.

• by fb03 on 12/19/20, 12:12 PM

  While I really like what music streaming services gave me (an opportunity to explore quickly lots of new music), I think it is also coaxing, pasteurizing and generalizing music to the 'most added value possible' or 'most hype created possible per track', to which the epitome of this concept is called 'lo fi hip hop music', which now everyone making mainstream music tries to emulate or incorporate.

  I know this will sound harsh and obtuse, but if you notice, all 'dope' pop music now for kids is some variant of alternated trap-like rhythmic hihats and a really sloooow beats with a looong, bassy kick tail. to fill that huge nothingness pocket between the stuff, add some nice lush vocals (saying whatever, it doesn't matter much) and that's it.

  or maybe i'm just getting old and cranky.

• by Melting_Harps on 12/19/20, 10:03 AM

  Or you know... a large part of small business who once used this service in their stores/shops no longer exist, and the 25%+ of unemployed people, and God only knows all over the World, had to make cut backs to non-essential expenses.

  Streaming services like Spotify never really made sense to me as business model, for the artists it could be a double edged sword at best if they get the desired exposure and total waste of time at worst since they get paid nothing and are lost in total obscurity.

  Most artists make money from touring and performances, and unless you're a mainstream artist you're never going to make anything on record sells. Bandcamp cut its fees during the pandemic, and it kept some artists afloat for a while, but it wasn't long after that when you saw the patreon crowdfunding model needed to prop things up.

  Having DJ'd and been around a lot of musical talent in clubs throughout the last 14 years its clear most had to have day jobs in between gigs and supporting their own labels on top of living expenses. I doubt many had much or anything in savings and I fear with so many clubs and venues going under its going to take another generation of an underground rave scene to brings things back to what it was 10-15 years ago for many of the music scenes I still went out for. Which may be a good thing, but its still hard to see so many artists talent get wasted due to COVID.

• by shadowofneptune on 12/19/20, 4:39 AM

  Simple answer might just be that there's only so much that can differentiate one streaming service from another.

  If we're making comparisons to the traditional music industry, the streaming services might not be the labels -- they could be the recording formats. Just as with buying a CD player vs buying a Minidisc player, very few people with go through the cost or effort to use many different forms of media.

• by comprev on 12/19/20, 10:23 AM

  I don't use streaming services because I disagree with their insulting revenue for the artists.

  Fortunately I've always been one to seek out more underground artists, and platforms like Bandcamp have been amazing. Not only do the artists get an order of magnitude more revenue, sellers can offer merchandise and physical media (vinyl, CD, cassette) too. These often include a digital copy.

  Due to the closer connection between artists and fans I've received many signed/personalised records for the collection over the years. Artists can also gauge demand for future releases almost like crowdfunding.

  To me Bandcamp has been the saviour of music in the streaming age.

• by KingMachiavelli on 12/19/20, 4:53 AM

  > TikTok is also giving music streaming platforms a run for their money.

  TikTok relies on music and is popular enough now that they must have some license deal with the labels. I the amount per 30 second clip isn't much but I know people who spend hours on TikTok daily.

• by gitowiec on 12/19/20, 10:52 AM

  I'm occasional listener. I share Spotify subscription with my friend from work. I listen like once a week. It is far less then when I was 20 years old (it was 20 years ago). Then I was listening like 4 hours or more a day (on the way to school and back using my Walkman, at home using my HiFi, radio and cd player and MP3 collection). Today it's more of luxury time, when I'm done running errands, taking care of child, cooking, cleaning, then I can sit down and relax and listen to the sounds of my past to travel to the careless times. Today we sat to eat morning breakfast, my 4yo daughter, partner and me. I turned on HiFi and connected Spotify with Chromecast to listen to Christmas playlist. During whole breakfast it disconnected rapidly like 10 times. I had enough... Really it is less then pleasurable than putting old CD into player and just forget. Technology ruins good moments, especially for someone like me, and that person likes everything perfect. And I just got annoyed,...

• by systemvoltage on 12/19/20, 4:42 AM

  I can't remember the last time I sat down and spent dedicated time just listening to music. It is the same restlessness that I have when I try to medidate. Songs are just boring and I need to have an excuse to listen to music - like driving so I can optimize the time. "I am driving, might as well take advantage of some music". The internet has ruined peace, fun, and everything that I remember growing up. :-(

• by juancn on 12/30/20, 4:13 PM

  Commute time is down, I listen to music mostly while I'm commuting and I assume I'm not alone.

  2020 is unusual.

• by denimnerd42 on 12/19/20, 4:38 AM

  > Defense of the Ancients is up 38%.

  interesting error calling Dota 2 "Defense of the Ancients"

• by throw_m239339 on 12/19/20, 2:07 PM

  there is very little money in music today, too many artists, very little audience ready to pay for it. Either you live in the right place where there is a scene and you might be able to have a career in making your own music, or you need to consider yourself a composer and make music for others (movies, tvshows, ads, ...), this is where the money is at today, not in trying to be a music star. Even gigs don't pay that much compared to that, because one needs an audience.

  As for online services. Spotify is 100% pointless when it comes to monetization, bandcamp is a bit better if you can provide physical goods.

• by slothtrop on 12/19/20, 6:14 PM

  The model is pretty broken. I'm curious as to whether stream-to-own platforms like resonate.is will take off, as artists need a bigger payout for it to be sustainable. But I expect interest in new streaming services to be stagnant. People aren't interested in shifting between services that are functionally identical to the consumer.

• by ksec on 12/19/20, 10:31 AM

  >— if subscribers are added and consumption stays flat, rights holders just make more per stream. But a move toward podcasts could cost rights holders leverage in licensing negotiations.

  Could someone else confirms that. Because that is not the way how I know it works. Has this been changed?

• by FrozenVoid on 12/19/20, 4:52 AM

  Its keeping up by increased density of words/minute https://michaeltauberg.medium.com/music-and-our-attention-sp...

• by Animats on 12/19/20, 4:57 AM

  There's an inherent upper limit for streaming music. You can only listen to one stream at a time.