Article: Buy More Music, Enjoy Music More

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I just looked in Roon and I have over 4000 albums in my personal collection.

Once upon a time, when I got to 300 LPs, I thought that was a pretty substantial amount.

It’s definitely more difficult to get to know a collection that’s more than 10 times the size.

1 minute ago, firedog said:

I just looked in Roon and I have over 4000 albums in my personal collection.

Once upon a time, when I got to 300 LPs, I thought that was a pretty substantial amount.

It’s definitely more difficult to get to know a collection that’s more than 10 times the size.

Agree 100%

Yeh, there is bit to unpack here. I recently posted a topic linked to a youtube video regarding why music is getting worse. The video was long and the title clickbait so understandably, there was little interest.

The premise of the video was that music is getting worse for a whole lot of interrelated reasons. Of the more controversial points was it was now "too easy" to produce music in your bedroom, auto tune it and assemble a "band" made up of artificial drum kits and the like, and circumvent the whole chain of production, studio and distribution to get your music out to an audience. In some ways it is the most exciting times for talented new artists, in some ways the natural selection process has been defeated with inevitable ramifications.

As a side-note, was that while it is easier than past times for solo artists, the incentive or need to form real live bands was gone. Where are the Fleetwood Macs, Beatles, Pearl Jams, Queen, ELOs, Moddy Blues, Breads.....? A quick Google of "most popular rock bands of 2024" is lucky to find a band formed in the last 20 years and many formed last century.

One of the valid points made in the linked video was "sweat equity" in owned music. It described exactly what Chris was saying about putting in time, effort and your money to find and buy a single album you hoped was worthy of your 'investment'. You poured over your new 'precious' admiring the cover art and reading liner notes. You gladly made the time to devote to listening to the entire album, over and over. This included dedicated time to sit down and listen, not just have it on while doing something else. You were more likely to get to 'know' the artists, see them in concert, and have their music form part of the "soundtrack of your life"

Especially in the days of vinyl and some extent CD's, the album held a place or pride in your collection. That collection said something about you.

I remember spending countless hours pouring over CD bins in stores around the world in search for new "gems". My audiophile friend did exactly the same and we would compare our trophy finds at the end of the month. Now it is easier and more efficiently achieved with streaming services but it has lost some of the romance and just perhaps some of that sweat equity value.

Another point, also mentioned in the OP, was the value we might place on music that is so readily available that it is almost disposable. For the price of one album in the past you can have a month's subscription to a streaming service touting (approaching) every album ever made. Someone said that a new song is added to Spotify every second!!

I use streaming services to find new music and for background music while in my study or doing other things. I have terabytes of downloaded and ripped music which I own. I love the ability to form playlists or listen to whole albums. I am also getting my old Mark Levinson CD Transport repaired, at my wife's request, to put on a CD (we have many hundreds) like we did in 'the old days'.

Nostalgia maybe, but then again sometimes old becomes new again. Another way of looking at it is simply we have gained in many ways but lost in some ways

Two levels of difference stand out to me when comparing streaming to what you describe @The Computer Audiophile.

First - instigation - how the decision is made to 'acquire' (in which I include listening for the first time) music in the first place. Deciding to acquire music, choosing the music, then clicking the purchase button/handing over your cash is a lot stronger than being passively fed music via another party... whether algorithmically generated or not. I think this is the strongest effect, actually.

Second - decision fatigue. Streaming services are oriented around keeping you on the platform - it makes sense for you to dither and move from music to music. To present a catalogue of seemingly infinite size and tempt you with new dopamine hits does help their "engagement" metrics but doesn't help your engagement and contemplation of the music. The music does not become "yours" and you do not build as strong an association with it.

I don't think it matters much whether the music you acquire is downloaded or physical, although there's probably some other caveman psychological process that might further alter our relationship with music if we have physically held it.

I came into similar conclusions as you @The Computer Audiophile when I realized I could listen to my favorite artists on vinyl.

Goes without saying that I still consider my HiRes Qobuz streams inherently superior to vinyl playback, but I realized long time ago that I was losing interest faster for an album and/or artist since I started streaming, i.e. I would skip to the songs I knew I liked and didn't give the others a chance. Now, if I really care for a certain artist or album, I buy vinyl so I know I'll give it my full attention; In my head a vinyl record is meant to be played till the last note.

So when I know I have the dispossession to really listen to music without distraction, I grab a bottle of Red Trolley, put on a Strokes or Lana Del Rey record and listen through my tube headamp.

5 minutes ago, Bob Loblaw said:

I came into similar conclusions as you @The Computer Audiophile when I realized I could listen to my favorite artists on vinyl.

Goes without saying that I still consider my HiRes Qobuz streams inherently superior to vinyl playback, but I realized long time ago that I was losing interest faster for an album and/or artist since I started streaming, i.e. I would skip to the songs I knew I liked and didn't give the others a chance. Now, if I really care for a certain artist or album, I buy vinyl so I know I'll give it my full attention; In my head a vinyl record is meant to be played till the last note.

 

So when I know I have the dispossession to really listen to music without distraction, I grab a bottle of Red Trolley, put on a Strokes or Lana Del Rey record and listen through my tube headamp.

I love it Bob. 

5 hours ago, PeterG said:

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there are two aspects that are rather unique to streaming, however.  

One is to alert an audiophile friend about my Qobuz finds (he lives in Europe and I live in the U.S. so this sharing cannot happen physically).  We have added quite a few favorite albums by alerting each other and having the ability to listen to a wide selection of albums.   He often suggests music I would never otherwise listen to (and vice versa).  That is fun even when the music isn't my cup of tea (and vice versa).  We have gotten to know the overlap regions as well and now can reliably suggest a new find that will end up in the favorites playlist.  His preference is to purchase such favorites, while I remain a renter.  

The other aspect is listening to the music mentioned in biographies.  I get to listen to the music that formed a particular musician.  And to listen to their music after having read the context of an album and what critics and listeners thought.  This process gives me a much better idea of their development as musicians (and that critics are often wrong).    

Purchasing music is fine if you are in the stage of life where you can spend a significant amount of financial resources to do so. I and many others are no longer able to do that. Streaming for me is a lifeline to to the music I love. Sure it is not perfect but for many it opens up a whole new world of music we would otherwise never hear.

48 minutes ago, Bob2803 said:

Purchasing music is fine if you are in the stage of life where you can spend a significant amount of financial resources to do so. I and many others are no longer able to do that. Streaming for me is a lifeline to to the music I love. Sure it is not perfect but for many it opens up a whole new world of music we would otherwise never hear.

Hi Bob, that was something I thought about quite a bit while writing this. It’s a very valid point. 
 

There are no rights or wrongs here. Whatever makes people happy, is all good with me. I’m happy you’re happy. 

1 hour ago, Bob2803 said:

Purchasing music is fine if you are in the stage of life where you can spend a significant amount of financial resources to do so. I and many others are no longer able to do that. Streaming for me is a lifeline to to the music I love. Sure it is not perfect but for many it opens up a whole new world of music we would otherwise never hear.

True. In a way that is what kinda sucks about physical media. At least for me, the OCD kicks in if I'm missing one album from an artist I like. Digital, specially with something like Roon, is very easy to categorize, even if one is just streaming.

8 hours ago, PYP said:

One is to alert an audiophile friend about my Qobuz finds (he lives in Europe and I live in the U.S. so this sharing cannot happen physically).  We have added quite a few favorite albums by alerting each other and having the ability to listen to a wide selection of albums.   He often suggests music I would never otherwise listen to (and vice versa).  That is fun even when the music isn't my cup of tea (and vice versa).  We have gotten to know the overlap regions as well and now can reliably suggest a new find that will end up in the favorites playlist.  His preference is to purchase such favorites, while I remain a renter.

many moons ago I also had such a friend Peter and also SandyK (sadly, both passed) We did the same thing finding and swapping gem musical finds to add to our collection. I think this music seeking for new music is sometimes an underrated aspect of our music reward and receptiveness system. Scales of our music receptiveness like the BMRQ Barcelona Music Reward Questionnaire (BMRQ), show the musical reward experience can be decomposed into five reliable factors: Musical Seeking, Emotion Evocation, Mood Regulation, Social Reward, and Sensory-Motor.

6 hours ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

Whatever makes people happy, is all good with me. I’m happy you’re happy. 

Clap along if you know what happiness is to you...

It's just one thing...

8 hours ago, Audiophile Neuroscience said:

Scales of our music receptiveness like the BMRQ Barcelona Music Reward Questionnaire (BMRQ), show the musical reward experience can be decomposed into five reliable factors: Musical Seeking, Emotion Evocation, Mood Regulation, Social Reward, and Sensory-Motor.

Had never heard of this questionnaire, but it is interesting.  Perhaps we are all assessing all of these factors at some point, subconsciously or not.  It seems to me that the rent vs. buy decision is separate from these factors.  

Sounds like fun please keep reporting on this.

7 hours ago, PYP said:

16 hours ago, Audiophile Neuroscience said:

Musical Seeking, Emotion Evocation, Mood Regulation, Social Reward, and Sensory-Motor.

Had never heard of this questionnaire, but it is interesting.  Perhaps we are all assessing all of these factors at some point, subconsciously or not.  It seems to me that the rent vs. buy decision is separate from these factors.  

I would say Rent vs Buy Music impacts the way we seek music  and, in relation to this thread, influencing how we treasure or value it

Chris, nice job explaining the conundrum of the vast, almost unlimited world of music available through streaming and what gets lost, ultimately, versus having a new cd, blu-ray, etc. just delivered and really focusing on the music it offers. Perfect example with that Bread disc you have been listening to. 

What I find really sad are the pronouncements from industry sources, audio related magazines, etc., especially of late, saying that the pressing and availability of CD's will likely come to a complete end, possibly as soon as the first quarter of next year, or shortly thereafter. There does seem to be some hope, for music continuing to be available on BluRay, as it is apparently selling reasonably well, but lets be honest, the numbers of those releases are quite small. When the time comes that I cannot even order a cd of a new release, it will be truly unfortunate, and more will be lost than is realized.  

JC

11 minutes ago, sdolezalek said:

Chris: You are absolutely onto something, but I think it is far broader than music.  I can say the same thing about the amount of "great" photographs now available on the web for free, or the 1000 channels of "free" television that my cable and satellite companies offer me, or the unlimited news feeds.  Across most of these I would offer the following:

1) It is so easy to produce something "good enough" that the value of good enough content is both nearly zero and less useful;

2) It is both much more work to produce really great content and it is not clear you get paid for the additional work (so fewer artists do it);

3) The sheer volume of what gets produced means that the occasional "accident" can briefly rise to the top (like the recent picture of the flying Olympic surfer - one hit wonders) 

4) As the audience, we now have three choices:

    a) let someone else (i.e. Spotify, Tidal) curate what we should hear for us (often leaving off some true gems) or allow some news channel decide what we should hear

    b) try to find the energy and time to go through all the content and make intelligent choices as to what we really love (or is true)

    c) just arbitrarily limit ourselves and realize that we can actually be really happy with a more limited selection (particularly when we put something of ourselves into it, i.e. paid for it); or

    d) and this is where Audiophilestyle comes in for me: rely on some trusted friends to point you at content they took the time to find and like and share that finding with you...

Thank you!

Very well said. I agree 100%

I have always bought the music I liked. Since a few years, I have a Qobuz subscription, but I still buy music, being it CD (PeterG, I am with you), or files. Streaming gives you so much music, that you forget to listen, you are just browsing (nothing wrong with streaming, I like it,  but the ritual of saving money for the (f.cking XXX) expensive  black disk, buying the LP and sharing it whit your friends is lost).

As always, feel free to disagree, and let's keep sharing good music. Happy listening!