It also took me 4 decades to get to that point. My old Dual turntable remained in the house, so that I can also digitize a rare LP or single if necessary.
If the legislator wants to punish me for being charitable and non-profit on the road and bring authors with purchases and rent appreciation, he should do it. In Germany, I see the legislator on the right track to balance the interests of customers and creators well.
I am for a strong music business and growing markets no contradiction to charity. The number of music lovers can only grow this way. As a customer, you can’t do more than buy, rent, borrow and give away to show your love for music and artists. The beloved discovery begins with the gift, every good musician has understood that.
Strictly speaking, even the music industry itself is giving gifts today, because that attracts new customers. Apple gives for every occasion and as a bundle up to 6 months free of charge , Spotify makes half of all streams without charging the customer only against the smallest advertising revenue, which goes down in the total revenue and all other providers come just as with permanent or temporary offers, for little or no money. Many more people get so your new love for music, even in times when purchases collapse and sink into the niche. .
I now use and pay for Spotify Family, Tidal and Qobuz on a permanent basis, and also visit Apple, Amazon, Google, Deezer and Napster from time to time. Purchases are not at zero, but the exception. It is actually the case that a music service with purchase offers (e.g. Qobuz) would be completely sufficient.
The offer is 95 to 99% the same. If you want to find differences, you have to dig deep or bring up subjective things. I try hard to hear differences between a very good OGG and a lossless FLAC. Certainly, this also requires better technology, which only a few buy and which will also become cheaper when FLAC establishes itself in the mass market.
I don’t think price dumping is good, but all price segments need to be addressed and artists’ revenues should grow, not decline, so they stay creative and share their love for us. But it’s the distribution between label (rights holder) and artist that doesn’t always work out because there are no professionals negotiating for good contracts. This is where Bandcamp, Soundcloud and many other start-ups come in. Unfortunately, 3 big ones determine the business and make the few millionaires. I hope that in the future the business practices there will no longer be determined by crisis management, but charity towards artists. They can afford again to make big deals not only with Neil Young, the Beatles or other artists.
Music must never be just business!
