Taylor Swift certainly helped those figures but so did other artists mentioned, she didn’t drive the numbers alone. I am not sure that is even relevent though, they are all sales of albums in a physical format which seems to be increasing overall & not going away.
There’s no evidence that albums are going the way of the dodo, physical media sales are increasing.
My 72 year old dad recently bought a new turntable with built in Bluetooth so he can listen to his big collection of vinyl again. He used to have a huge collection of CD’s. But he gave those away the last time my parents moved to a new place.
Vinyl is not a thing for me personally. But it does seem that the Dutch shops that still sell music have a larger supply of vinyl stocked than CD’s.
There’s not only too much choice, thanks to all-you-can-eat streaming, music has been completely devalued - hence the disinterest. Its just a random play list for background noise…
Me neither, I couldn’t wait to replace my collection with CD’s - but it taught us to sit down and listen to an album from beginning to end, perhaps because dealing with records is such a chore.
I don’t agree with this statement at all. Music has tremendous value. I find valuable new music all the time. I wish I could afford all of the new music I find valuable, but I can’t. The amount of music available on streaming services can be overwhelming—I think especially for music lovers used to older methods of exposure and acquisition. But if someone believes this devalues music, that is undoubtedly a personal issue and one I find sad, to be honest.
Too much music, never heard such a thing. Like a few here since ditching streaming as a source as part of my library I only dip into it to try new music. If I like it enough I buy it. It’s made me now play pretty much all the albums in my library, a few more to go that will get played over the holiday period. I buy lots of new music a couple of times a month and always going back and picking up older ones. There might be some I might not get back to ever as some tastes change and l some only once in a while. But one can never have enough. I like to hear and discover new artists and be able to actually contribute to them continuing. I don’t see streaming helping here for the majority of what I buy.
Same here. Just checked that I bought (not streamed from Qobuz, actual purchased digital downloads or CD rips) 127 albums the last year, and I’ve been doing comparably over the last several years, as the image below illustrates. I do this because I keep finding artists and works I want to support directly (mostly via Bandcamp).
There’s a happy space between at one end listening to music as if it were church, and at the other elevator music. In most cases that I have something playing, I may be doing something else as well (like now), at my desk or around the house, but I stop myself when an especially surprising or memorable passage pops up.
You can listen to every album ever made for $5.99 a month (Apple Music student plan). You probably couldn’t a BUY single album new for $5.99, so tell me how that hasn’t devalued it.
How you or I value our collection is something else. If I like it, I buy it, but I could stream it for less 
In some ways (not all ways), it has definitely increased the financial value instead of devaluing it (and in your case, completely). The number of people that use streaming as discovery and then go out and purchases music via CD, LP, download, etc. is common. Take this thread for example. There are those of us who buy hundreds of albums a year—some for more than 5.99 and some for less—because of streaming services.
The exciting thing is that while you do not have enough time left to listen to your entire collection, neither can you delete anyt particular item because you don’t know when you might want to listen to it again, or for the first time,
What a great hobby we have!
We like to start with a favorite and see where it goes. Finding new music and artists is part of the journey. The world of music has a lot to offer. Limiting your listening choices seems to be a disservice to yourself.
I am in agreement I have been thinking, recently, that I am not enjoying listening as much as I have in the past so much that my main system has not been switched on in 10 days. However my listening drought has been partly due to being more sociable at home.
With a local collection of around 3000 ripped CDs there’s more than enough to keep me entertained for the rest of my days. I guess the main reason for using streaming services (Spotify & Qobuz) is the endless search for those new musical gems. That said, those gems are more difficult to find which likely to be reflection of taste and expectation developed over a lifetime of listening.
I think I’m open minded in my musical tastes but suspect that’s probably not the case, I’ll have a few days of listening to favourites and hopefully reinvigorate my enthusiasm ….must go the moggie wants his breakfast…
MERRY CHRISTMAS 
Sounds familiar. In my case I have discovered that my musical taste has changed during the years. So I don’t listen to much of my older stuff. On the other hand I have trouble finding new music that is interesting to me. It’s often so blasé I can’t stand it.
What you pay for it and how accessible it is, has nothing to do with its intrinsic value in my understanding. Rather the opposite.
I value music more since it is easy to quickly find what I want (thanks to roon and Qobuz) and I do not have to pay upfront for something I might not like that much. Definitely buying more music both in physical form and download purchases alike since streaming is so accessible and cheap.
Completely disagree. Since there is streaming services and software like roon or Apple Music, finding the specific music you are interested in is much cheaper and a much more conscious process which I would call the opposite of background noise.
Yes, many people talk about mood playlists and streaming just background stuff these days. But this form of music consumption has always existed, may it be designated radio stations or LP samplers or whatever. It has become more obvious that mood playlists are background music with people not valuing the artists and compositions while cooking, relaxing or eating. But this has been an idea (and a complaint) since the times of Telemann and Händel composing designated background music. So the concept is around for 300+ years.
Why should one listen to an entire album just because it is effort to flip the sides or exchange LPs? Do not see any value in this.
I think compared to the era of pop radio, MTV and early iPod days the importance of an album to listen to in its entirety has increased, not decreased. At least when using software like roon or Apple Music which offer a rather album-based browsing experience. I regularly listen to some playlists or roon radio stream and switch to the album in case I really like one track.
Maybe it is not so much the case with Spotify users or those heavily relying on mood playlists.
Big collection or infinite resources from a streaming service are indeed a source of confusion so one has to take a conscious decision on how to curate your ´true favorite collection´ or browsing with care.
Personally I found it very useful to limit the local collection to a core library of albums I really want to keep and be offered as an option when browsing. Everything else went to disabled folders or were removed from Qobuz favorite list limiting the core library to 4,000 albums (in my case). Found it surprising how rarely I use the other 10,000 which are in the ´virtual attic´ as for quick research and comparison, having them in Qobuz without ever being added to the library is pretty sufficient.
I often make smart playlists based on stray thoughts or random words, or a producer or genre. Then I favorite stuff as I listen to the mix, and later go and investigate the rest of the album/artist/producer connected to that favorite.
I recently made a smart playlist that collected all the songs with “chicken” AND/OR “whisky” AND Genre is Blues AND/OR Jazz. Worked out great.
I have found a lot of great “new” music this way.
I have a small CD collection of about 1200 or so. I’m in a similar situation; I used to enjoy going to several 2nd hand records/CD shops and look for stuff. But as I get older (late 60’s) I worry more about what happens when I’m gone, not that I plan on leaving the planet just yet. I don’t want the burden to be on my wife and kids to figure out what to do with all my “Stuff”.
Since I joined Roon, I quit buying stuff and now I find so many new artists/albums that it’s amazing. If I like a sample of what I hear, I just click the plus button and walla, it’s in my library. I spend a lot of time listening and enjoy it, after all, it’s a hobby and that’s why I subscribed. YMMV
You are not alone.
About 5 years ago, I was in a job interview, and got blindsided by the question; “What frustrates you?”. I didn’t really have anything prepared so I just responded with, “I’m frustrated by the amount of good music that is available and the fact that there is no way that I’ll ever hear it all”. This particular job had nothing to do with music and my comment was totally off topic, but the interviewer loved my response to his question.
There has been a lot of replies to this great thread starter and I kind of agree with everything that has been written. However, I look at it this way:
Nothing has changed. There has always been good music and it usually takes effort to find it. Today’s options are overwhelming at times, but it sure is cool when Roon Radio takes over and drops an unknown gem in my lap from time to time.
As a classical fan to compare and contrast various interpretations oc music iz now easy
Buying 37 versions of Beethoven sonatas is not practical but listening vi Tidal is
yes you’re just some… 
(but so am I)
Agree 100% - I still have a physical media collection and often find myself happier flicking through vinyl or CDs when overwhelmed by my digital library. My vinyl is to hand but most CDs are in the loft
That said… I love the fact that, if I’m in “that” mood, I can dial in exactly what I want to listen to and output sound wherever I want.
