Screenshot from the BI article
Disclaimer: This is my personal opinion and is in no way intended to disrespect the article that appears on Business Insider.
I just read an article by Business Insider entitled 13 Things That Went Obsolete In 2012 that states, "Why would you pay for a song when you can just play it for free through
YouTube or listen to it for free on your desktop with Spotify?" I'm sure there is a huge community of audiophiles and music lovers who would beg to differ. One of the associates at my local record store just paid $140 for a rare LP to replace one that was stolen. I do see the benefits to streaming services such as Spotify, XBOX Music, and others. The ability to easily listen to music on many devices, have access to new and old music immediately, and share what you're listening to on social media is all nice, but I am not going to stop purchasing albums anytime soon. And here's why:
- Buying individual albums and subscribing to streaming services are not mutually exclusive decisions.
- Purchased albums and songs (both digital and analog) work without an Internet connection.
- Streaming services often stream the most compressed MP3's that provide sound quality inferior to the uncompressed digital files on CD's or the analog signal from vinyl.
- A wall of records or CD's is a great conversation starter. (This is also one of the primary reasons I still prefer physical books).
- Cover art and album liners
- When you purchase a song or album, you actually own that song or album.
- Colored wax
- Many LPs now include access to a digital download of all the songs for free.
- There is still plenty of music not available on streaming services.
- We can choose the artist(s) we support by buying their individual songs and albums.