# Will music be free?



## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

Or at least supported by advertisements, as is so much else? This article from Atlantic reports a significant decline in sales of both CDs and digital downloads, and a big increase in streaming. Hard to imagine what this future will be like.

http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2015/01/buying-music-is-so-over/384790/


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## Albert7 (Nov 16, 2014)

I don't know about whether music will be free but I know that I am devoted to purchasing iTunes albums and using streaming only to preview them.

I would never consider streaming a way to collect music.

Artist/record label seem to hate Spotify... Look at Taylor Swift pulling her albums from Spotify last year. iTunes is preferred.


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## pianississimo (Nov 24, 2014)

don't you ever find that itunes and amazon download sometimes chop off part of the track? This is especially true of albums which are a lot of short parts, disks of quartets or short piano pieces where there are at least 20 tracks on the cd will result in at least 1 in 10 albums having at least one track cut.
It annoys me a lot. I emailed itunes about it the first time it happened and they ignored my email. I've also emailed amazon about it and they ignored me too. 
I'd rather have a cd.
I don't really stream. I'm not going to buy a subscription and I find all adverts annoying.
If I want to discover something and get to know it before buying then I use youtube. That's where I made my first discoveries in classical and I still use it.

I hope music doesn't become free because then people will stop recording. That would be a disaster!!


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## Haydn man (Jan 25, 2014)

To those of us used to 'collecting' music then it seems like the logical step to move from buying digital files on CD to downloading the same thing offered in packages presented in CD like quantities. I notice that iTunes, Amazon etc perpetuate this by making it necessary to either buy the whole virtual disc as buying only selected tracks is either more costly or tracks are sold as 'album only'
None of this really makes any sense, and streaming offers the next step. Now for less than one full price CD per month,I can listen to just about anything I wish at anytime, and at high quality.
I no longer need to own a single work, will never have to worry about keeping digital files backed up in triplicate and I can access at home or on the move.
Who cares who owns music when you got full access to the lot?
Trouble is old habits die hard and I still explore with Spotify than buy it, but as the saying goes.... A fool and his money are soon parted


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde (Dec 2, 2011)

I also prefer CDs. With a good sound system it's simply so much better in sound! I'm getting more and more into vinyl these days and soon I'd like to have a good quality turntable....

But as to music being free, well, live music is more often free without the need for advertisements interrupting the movements of a symphony. :lol:


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## Albert7 (Nov 16, 2014)

pianississimo said:


> don't you ever find that itunes and amazon download sometimes chop off part of the track? This is especially true of albums which are a lot of short parts, disks of quartets or short piano pieces where there are at least 20 tracks on the cd will result in at least 1 in 10 albums having at least one track cut.
> It annoys me a lot. I emailed itunes about it the first time it happened and they ignored my email. I've also emailed amazon about it and they ignored me too.
> I'd rather have a cd.
> I don't really stream. I'm not going to buy a subscription and I find all adverts annoying.
> ...


Luckily I never had an issue with cut tracks on iTunes or Amazon mp3. I must be fortunate . Which albums did you have problems with?


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## Figleaf (Jun 10, 2014)

If a recording is important to me I want to own it, not stream it. I prefer CDs to mp3, and if I find something really good on YouTube I use Videoder to download it, as you never know when the video might be deleted. The other issues with streaming are compression of sound files, and internet connectivity: our broadband isn't brilliant, and buffering is a constant irritant when streaming music videos. I use YouTube for research and previewing music, for stuff which isn't available on CD, and for other users' comments.


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

I will continue buying CDs and actual books as long as they are available to be purchased.

I consider it low tech tactile stimulation.

And They may reign forever and ever.....and They may reign..... :trp:


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## chambercore (Jan 26, 2015)

It seems like the people still buying tangible music are collectors and those who are intimidated by digital formats. It's already a niche market and the target audience will keep getting smaller and smaller. Personally, I enjoying having vinyl and CDs, but it's so hard to justify filling my tiny apartment with them when I can fit thousands of tracks in my pocket. Will recorded music become free? Yes I think it will become "free" to consumers. Artists might have to start attaching advertisements to the beginning of every track or something. I wish I was joking about that being a possibility (look how prominent product placement is in movies).


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## MoonlightSonata (Mar 29, 2014)

I really hope it doesn't become free, because I expect that the amount of music written will decrease greatly.
I like CDs, but I don't have much experience with vinyl. Some music, of course, I can just play for myself.


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

KenOC said:


> Or at least supported by advertisements, as is so much else? This article from Atlantic reports a significant decline in sales of both CDs and digital downloads, and a big increase in streaming. Hard to imagine what this future will be like.
> 
> http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2015/01/buying-music-is-so-over/384790/


I'll have to hoard CDs now while they are still relatively abundant. The masses are driving it to digital only and those will be sad days. It's the same effect with automobiles, the masses have driven (no pun intended) the market to the point that getting a manual transmission is becoming very difficult (or for that matter rear wheel drive, but front drive was driven by the company bean counters wanting lower production costs).


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## Blake (Nov 6, 2013)

As long as food and shelter aren't free, neither should art be. Do we expect these guys to live under a bridge and still supply us with luxuries? Haha


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## Albert7 (Nov 16, 2014)

Blake said:


> As long as food and shelter aren't free, neither should art be. Do we expect these guys to live under a bridge and still supply us with luxuries? Haha


A lot of the public expects that apparently since torrenting is a huge deal in today's world.


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

KenOC said:


> Or at least supported by advertisements, as is so much else? This article from Atlantic reports a significant decline in sales of both CDs and digital downloads, and a big increase in streaming. Hard to imagine what this future will be like.
> 
> http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2015/01/buying-music-is-so-over/384790/


Music will be free to the consumer when musicians and composers are willing to work for nothing, when the recording studios and all their personnel are willing to work for nothing, when distributors of any recordings of that music are also willing to work for nothing, and when any and all who make and provide the necessary hardware and software for the medium of receiving / auditioning those recordings are also willing to provide the materials and labor for nothing.

If advertisers are in any part a vital ancillary to getting that music out, someone, somewhere, is paying.

"There is no such thing as a free lunch."

Even an ideally running anarchy without any currency as its medium of exchange only works if people put in their time and labor, which is just another basis for the medium of exchange, another form of currency.

That is basic economics, I think


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## Albert7 (Nov 16, 2014)

Not to be kidding but if we lived in a socialist society the musicians would get paid a fair share of wages and the general public can get free music easily. Classical music for all presumably.

But we are in a mixed capitalist society so music is a consumer product.


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

Haydn man said:


> I no longer need to own a single work, will never have to worry about keeping digital files backed up in triplicate and I can access at home or on the move.
> Who cares who owns music when you got full access to the lot?


I think it is naive to think all those works available via streaming are going to remain available like a 'permanent collection.' Like Youtube, but for different reasons, works will be up, then one day they will be discontinued. Hard copies in your home, or downloaded to a hard drive, are the only way to ensure you have later what you think you want to keep now.


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## science (Oct 14, 2010)

There is a lot of free-ish music. Just sing. There it is. 

But unless someone is going to pay you for it, you'll have to keep on doing whatever the heck people are doing for work these days.


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## Albert7 (Nov 16, 2014)

PetrB said:


> I think it is naive to think all those works available via streaming are going to remain available like a 'permanent collection.' Like Youtube, but for different reasons, works will be up, then one day they will be discontinued. Hard copies in your home, or downloaded to a hard drive, are the only way to ensure you have later what you think you want to keep now.


Albums can get discontinued on Spotify... think about all those people who had Taylor Swift on their playlists and poof, it all vanished when she decided against featuring her music there.

Same can happen with classical music too.


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## Blake (Nov 6, 2013)

albertfallickwang said:


> A lot of the public expects that apparently since torrenting is a huge deal in today's world.


A nation of thieves, eh?


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## mmsbls (Mar 6, 2011)

I think the concept of free music suggested in the OP is not a place where musicians create music that _no one_ pays for. In the old days TV was completely free to consumers, but advertisers paid the TV stations. Today radio is completely free to me. I can here all the music on my classical radio station without any payment on my part. I use Google Search without paying because Google gets paid from advertisers.

Will music ever go that route or partly that route?


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## brotagonist (Jul 11, 2013)

I think the industry is moving toward some sort of locked-in monthly unlimited streaming plan. There is no way to stop piracy, so this at least generates revenue. Music cannot be free: somebody has to pay. Who is going to work for nothing? Unfortunately, streaming is a smorgasbord of all genres without distinction. The majority of listeners already ascribe to this delivery system. Collecting will be for the diehard fans. I buy CDs (some buy digital downloads) as a way of indicating to the industry which artists and genres (classical for us, hopefully) I wish to support.

I don't think the decline in sales of albums (physical or digital) is a death knell: it is simply an adjustment, a segmentation of listeners into different consumption style camps—smorgasbord users versus specialty collectors. Previously, this was not possible: everyone had to buy.


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## rspader (May 14, 2014)

If you gotta sit through advertisements, it ain't free. Life is too short to be wasted on ads.


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## Giordano (Aug 10, 2014)

When I read the thread title, I thought you were talking about the freedom of composers, and performers... :lol:


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## GreenMamba (Oct 14, 2012)

albertfallickwang said:


> Not to be kidding but if we lived in a socialist society the musicians would get paid a fair share of wages and the general public can get free music easily. Classical music for all presumably.


But then someone has to make the call on who qualifies as a musician worthy of receiving wages (surely it can't be anyone who says he wants to be a musician). Also, concerts couldnt be free due to limited seating. Either you'd have to pay, or some other method would be needed to determine who gets a seat.


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## ahammel (Oct 10, 2012)

GreenMamba said:


> But then someone has to make the call on who qualifies as a musician worthy of receiving wages (surely it can't be anyone who says he wants to be a musician). Also, concerts couldnt be free due to limited seating. Either you'd have to pay, or some other method would be needed to determine who gets a seat.


Lottery.

For both.


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## GreenMamba (Oct 14, 2012)

ahammel said:


> Lottery.
> 
> For both.


Could I throw my hat in the ring for a musician job even if I have little talent? And the lottery for tickets would undoubtedly lead to scalping.


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## ahammel (Oct 10, 2012)

GreenMamba said:


> Could I throw my hat in the ring for a musician job even if I have little talent?


Naturally, comrade! Don't let the running dogs fool you with their capitalist nonsense about "talent" and "practice" and "having ever seen a violin before". We can all do our bit here in the workers' paradise!


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## science (Oct 14, 2010)

GreenMamba said:


> Could I throw my hat in the ring for a musician job even if I have little talent? And the lottery for tickets would undoubtedly lead to scalping.


If I win the musician lottery, you're gonna get those tickets real cheap.


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## Headphone Hermit (Jan 8, 2014)

Music is already free ... to some extent. 

Radio 3 plays 'live' and via the internet, including podcasts and back-issues. You-tube etc is there for whenever you want something immediately. My local library has a really good selection of clasical CDs. The Pristine site streams an excellent selection of its recorded catalogue for free. 
I still collect (or rather acquire) CDs but I almost never buy them new. I'm glad that we have so much more access to music than I did in the 1970s


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## science (Oct 14, 2010)

That's true. Music is only anything but free if you want to control what you listen to. As this Mexican restaurant (now playing Stan Getz muzacked up) is explaining to me!

Edit: Maybe when I leave here I will stand in front of some shoe store blasting techno to purge my soul.


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## Headphone Hermit (Jan 8, 2014)

^^^ Kleiber said that he listened to Bach to cleanse his ears and his soul .... I'd rather have JS than techno, please


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

Giordano said:


> When I read the thread title, I thought you were talking about the freedom of composers, and performers... :lol:


I Ching : 30. Li / The Clinging, Fire
"Human life on earth is conditioned and unfree."


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