I've recently been made aware of the non-sustainable business of Spotify (and other streaming services) https://youtu.be/gDfNRWsMRsU .
I think the best solution for all parties would be a federated streaming service. Instances could be hosted by record labels or indi-Artists. Of course there needs to be a fair donation/subscription. (Maybe similar to Patreon - get some extra goodies for supporting your artist directly)
Does something similar exist already? I would rather put my money somewhere where small artists are actually paid fairly for their work. (And put my own works there as well)
Thanks for reading :) I wish you a very pleasant day and I'm looking forward for your input.
Unfortunately, not everyone can afford that. Spotify family plan is significantly cheaper than buying every single album from every artist I and my family listens to. Just for myself, I'd have to spend $5000+ for the amount of music I listen to if I bought the mp3 or flac files.
That's a great point. While I don't think streaming services can uphold their low prices (and I'm also happy to pay 20 bucks when the artists gets a fair share) I think buying all albums you maybe wanna listen to is way to expensive.
Buying music also raises the barrier to discovering new music and cultivatinng a diverse taste in music.
I agree that it's a great way to support your artist, but honestly I don't think it stands a chance to become as big as streaming services. The convince of being able to explore almost every artists catalogue at the touch of a button is just too good. (Also great for sharing music or creating a shared playlist)
I think the problem of storage space is also often overlooked. Not everyone has enough storage on their device. (I know I didn't, when I still used MP3s on a modern smartphone)