Thoughtful and well considered as always. You’re the rare writer that will identify the the issue but refrains from bitching endlessly about it. Instead you put your energy into suggesting possible solutions that are accessible and reasonable to act upon. As a person of limited means I am one of the 3 people in the world that has have *never* had a music streaming account from any provider, not even a free one. I’m a big bandcamp and SoundCloud supporter and last year started buying some tapes (even though no deck, yet) and I have never been disappointed. Small & indie is beautiful, and I very often receive a personal message or email from the artist. Which sometimes leads to a fruitful exchange and making a solid human to human connection. The major streaming services are all about control via the algo, maximizing profit and collecting personal info to resell and have another profit stream. Alternative methods to listen and buy music generally are a more personal artist <—> listener experience.
Thanks for your kind words, Mark. So good to hear that meaningful connections will still arise out of these small encounters between artist and listener. That's why we'll probably have to delink further from the mainstream music industry which will always favor profit over people.
Love this <3 Aside from the very great specific ideas, the general call you make to live our values through our actual behaviour and choices is so so important in this moment. Extra love for noting that following our values means not worrying about the weird incentives that might push us the other direction (i.e. how we are perceived by powerful others in the industry who might control opportunities).
Great list of actionable tips, Stephan! I’m looking to jump ship from Apple Music and over to Qobuz soon, but another goal of mine for this year is to get a NAS so I can organize my growing collection of owned media. I believe you’ve written about doing that yourself.
As much as I love the tangibility of physical media, I’ve also noticed how important buying digital can be for artists. The highest profit margins tend to come from purchasing a digital album since there is no money put into creating the physical CD/vinyl/etc. Another reason I’ll keep using Bandcamp until Subvert is ready to succeed it.
Love this, thanks! One thought I want to add is buy used physical media. There is so much vinyl and plastic out there already just waiting for ears. And while the money from used doesn’t go to the artists, it does go to music stores which are important hubs in your local music scene, while helping to keep some plastic out of landfills!
Thank you for this. Some great advice. I would add: if you like an artist, tell them too! Imagine they are having a bad day and your message cheers them up. Win!
100%. That's why I also mentioned those Bandcamp listening parties – some of these have been beautiful experiences recently, especially when the artist is 'present' and everyone tells them how much they love their work. Not to boost the ego, just to give them a bit of confirmation when a lot of the time they're probably struggling and doubting themselves.
Speaking of large events, most big festivals (in AU and US at least) are owned by Live Nation; you don't have to dig too deep to discover their at-scale corporate tactics...
It gave me so much joy to read this; it’s written with wisdom and compassionate and it addresses a lot of the perceived pitfalls that cause people to resist becoming more conscious in their consumption of culture.
I feel genuinely fortified to know that there are people out there (and specifically here on Substack) who are thinking and speaking liking this. Thank you so much. Consider me subbed!
Thanks Stephen, a great read! A few things on there I need to do myself. I had several iPod classics that I ran into the ground from 2007 to around 2022 - then when the last one died, switched to Spotify. It’s been on my mind to rethink this and this is another call to action. It’s just between Bandcamp, Qobuz or… another iPod
I think what may slow some people down on taking action is thinking about having to rebuild playlists etc. In my case that shouldn’t be a big deal as I use streaming to narrow down which physical records to buy.
From the label side, looking at my label playlist numbers - they’re tiny as I’m 99.999% Bandcamp… should be easy enough to set the same ones up in Qobuz.
Oh that playlist argument is also dead though... there are so many tools that allow you to transfer playlists from service A to B in a matter of seconds now!
Wondered as I typed if that sort of service existed! Will be checking that out. Then there’s just my historic agreements with label artists - although more and more aren’t interested in the chance of receiving peanuts as royalties. So perhaps it’ll sort itself out
Years ago I had the choice to replace my broken mp3 player or get a good mediaplayer for my smartphone. After trying 2 days I bought poweramp app and never switched back. Now have a 250 gb SD card on my phone with several hundreds of albums on mp3 format (all stuff I gave on CD, vinyl or tape)
As much as I love physical records, you can’t really take them outdoors or in the shed… so these mp3 players and devices are a lifeline. The iPod days were great - felt much more purposeful, gathering mp3s in a library, making sure the tags and artwork were all set. Sure it was harder work, but the convenience of adding an album in your streaming library feels so quick and cold.
Great List, thank you!
Thoughtful and well considered as always. You’re the rare writer that will identify the the issue but refrains from bitching endlessly about it. Instead you put your energy into suggesting possible solutions that are accessible and reasonable to act upon. As a person of limited means I am one of the 3 people in the world that has have *never* had a music streaming account from any provider, not even a free one. I’m a big bandcamp and SoundCloud supporter and last year started buying some tapes (even though no deck, yet) and I have never been disappointed. Small & indie is beautiful, and I very often receive a personal message or email from the artist. Which sometimes leads to a fruitful exchange and making a solid human to human connection. The major streaming services are all about control via the algo, maximizing profit and collecting personal info to resell and have another profit stream. Alternative methods to listen and buy music generally are a more personal artist <—> listener experience.
Just say NO to the algos!!!
Thanks for your kind words, Mark. So good to hear that meaningful connections will still arise out of these small encounters between artist and listener. That's why we'll probably have to delink further from the mainstream music industry which will always favor profit over people.
💚🔥💚🔥💚🎶
Love this <3 Aside from the very great specific ideas, the general call you make to live our values through our actual behaviour and choices is so so important in this moment. Extra love for noting that following our values means not worrying about the weird incentives that might push us the other direction (i.e. how we are perceived by powerful others in the industry who might control opportunities).
❤️❤️
Great list of actionable tips, Stephan! I’m looking to jump ship from Apple Music and over to Qobuz soon, but another goal of mine for this year is to get a NAS so I can organize my growing collection of owned media. I believe you’ve written about doing that yourself.
As much as I love the tangibility of physical media, I’ve also noticed how important buying digital can be for artists. The highest profit margins tend to come from purchasing a digital album since there is no money put into creating the physical CD/vinyl/etc. Another reason I’ll keep using Bandcamp until Subvert is ready to succeed it.
Happy new year!
Yup, proud NAS owner here. I do not regret buying it and setting it up! Thanks for your comment and restack, much appreciated.
Love this, thanks! One thought I want to add is buy used physical media. There is so much vinyl and plastic out there already just waiting for ears. And while the money from used doesn’t go to the artists, it does go to music stores which are important hubs in your local music scene, while helping to keep some plastic out of landfills!
Agree Adam, I do this as well. I'd left that aspect out here, because it doesn't support artists, but totally agree on the environmental impact!
Missed that Subvert.fm has opened the alpha version of its platform to members. Time to buy my first release on Subvert <3 Thanks for the heads up!
This is a great list, thank you.
Thank you for this. Some great advice. I would add: if you like an artist, tell them too! Imagine they are having a bad day and your message cheers them up. Win!
100%. That's why I also mentioned those Bandcamp listening parties – some of these have been beautiful experiences recently, especially when the artist is 'present' and everyone tells them how much they love their work. Not to boost the ego, just to give them a bit of confirmation when a lot of the time they're probably struggling and doubting themselves.
Thanks for this. Gives me a warm feeling with at least a bit of hope for all our musical future.
Speaking of large events, most big festivals (in AU and US at least) are owned by Live Nation; you don't have to dig too deep to discover their at-scale corporate tactics...
100% agree. Definitely one to avoid as much as possible – which gets difficult beyond a certain level of artist popularity and event size.
Thank you for sharing this. As label owner and musician this really gives me a positive boost after a ridiculously bad year. l
It gave me so much joy to read this; it’s written with wisdom and compassionate and it addresses a lot of the perceived pitfalls that cause people to resist becoming more conscious in their consumption of culture.
I feel genuinely fortified to know that there are people out there (and specifically here on Substack) who are thinking and speaking liking this. Thank you so much. Consider me subbed!
Thanks Stephen, a great read! A few things on there I need to do myself. I had several iPod classics that I ran into the ground from 2007 to around 2022 - then when the last one died, switched to Spotify. It’s been on my mind to rethink this and this is another call to action. It’s just between Bandcamp, Qobuz or… another iPod
Thanks! Yeah and those must not even be mutually exclusive. I use Bandcamp a lot, own an iPod and am thinking about adding a Qobuz sub to the mix!
I think what may slow some people down on taking action is thinking about having to rebuild playlists etc. In my case that shouldn’t be a big deal as I use streaming to narrow down which physical records to buy.
From the label side, looking at my label playlist numbers - they’re tiny as I’m 99.999% Bandcamp… should be easy enough to set the same ones up in Qobuz.
Oh that playlist argument is also dead though... there are so many tools that allow you to transfer playlists from service A to B in a matter of seconds now!
Wondered as I typed if that sort of service existed! Will be checking that out. Then there’s just my historic agreements with label artists - although more and more aren’t interested in the chance of receiving peanuts as royalties. So perhaps it’ll sort itself out
Years ago I had the choice to replace my broken mp3 player or get a good mediaplayer for my smartphone. After trying 2 days I bought poweramp app and never switched back. Now have a 250 gb SD card on my phone with several hundreds of albums on mp3 format (all stuff I gave on CD, vinyl or tape)
As much as I love physical records, you can’t really take them outdoors or in the shed… so these mp3 players and devices are a lifeline. The iPod days were great - felt much more purposeful, gathering mp3s in a library, making sure the tags and artwork were all set. Sure it was harder work, but the convenience of adding an album in your streaming library feels so quick and cold.