Pristine Classical is a boutique label that specializes in digital transfers of historical classical music recordings. They have a sizable and unique catalog.
The Pristine catalog is not available on any of the major streaming services - understandably, since they are an ultra-niche label, and a business model relying on streaming revenue would be untenable. However, they do offer their own streaming service, Pristine Streaming, which I think is a fantastic idea.
The drawback is that Pristine Streaming is browser-only; it lacks a mobile app or Spotify/Tidal-type “connect” functionality. This has all sorts of obvious disadvantages. Since it’s unlikely a company like Pristine will be able to invest in homegrown feature-rich streaming tech, Roon seems like an ideal platform to fill this gap.
I can envision a future in which Roon is home to numerous boutique streaming services, coexisting through a shared API/abstraction layer, all merged into Roon’s centralized library/app/audio transport/etc. Imagine if Pristine could implement an API or build a Roon Extension that would instantly enable Pristine Streaming on Roon, leveraging Roon’s library integration, app control, and playback tech; likewise for other boutique services such as Naxos Music Library. That would be a huge win for subscribers of niche services - and, I think, for the services themselves, as they’d have access to a feature-rich platform to compete with the major streaming providers.
I realize this would be a major new feature, but I think it’d be amazingly great.