I know there’s already a few posts about how people listen to, or discover new music, but I wanted to see how other people get their music. Do you buy CDs or vinyl? Digital downloads? Use streaming services? Something else? And why?
Until a few years ago, I would jump between streaming services depending on the best deals I could get, but got very concerned the more I read about how little money most musicians get from streaming listens (especially via Spotify) - and given I tend to listen to less popular bands/artists, it seems particularly bad for them.
I have a small selection of CDs and vinyl, but mostly buy my music digitally - directly via Bandcamp if the artist is on there, or through an online store like 7digital (or even sometimes if no other option, Amazon) if not. I have a home server where I keep my music and like to be able to stream it directly to my phone, so this tends to be the best of both worlds for me.
Interested to know what others do!
I like to discovery tunes through friends and suches, and services like TIDAL. I started collecting vinyl earlier this year and just playing an entire album front to back is amazing, takes me back. Also didn’t realize how much I miss how “older” mixing used to sound …more dynamic not all compressed into a brick. I really admire Vinyl for that. It’s also fun to collect which doesn’t hurt … Thinking of working on my CD collection again. As for digital archival, I use FLAC for “backing up” my vinyl, and when aquiring new I like bandcamp or any service that offers FLAC in highres.