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For Krawczeniuk, the move away from Spotify after eight years was partly inspired by the realisation that by using open source software, a home server and a VPN on his phone, he could build something similar himself.
I did this as well. Very happy with it. Using Nextcloud Music and Subsonic.
He sees moving away from Big Streaming as connected to a broader movement towards small-scale tech projects and open-source services that are not resource- or energy-intensive.
Not sure if it is less resource intensive though, if everyone has their own storage?
I sympathize with this experience, but I’m not quite sure why you “need” to quit your streaming services in order to achieve the desired effect. I almost exclusively use Spotify, but I use it to listen to new releases from artists I like, listen to way more albums then I could afford to buy physically, and check out music my friends recommend to me. You don’t have to use streaming services as a playlist aggregator, there’s nothing stopping you from actively enjoying music on there.
I think I’m on the verge of leaving. If I had spent the 10 bucks a month on a cd instead of my spotify account for as long as I’ve been on Spotify, my music collection would be about the size of all the albums in my current rotation and I would have been supporting the artists directly instead of the pittance spotify pays them. I’ve started buying cds I listen to on spotify regularly, but haven’t dropped the subscription yet. Baby steps.
Very interesting article. I think it’s true they that streaming music services tend to make passive listening to easy. I remember the days of getting a new album, playing it while I read the liner notes, checked out the cover art and listening intently to the lyrics. Now it’s too easy to play something, anything while I cook dinner, get ready for work…
I do like SiriusXM. I appreciate the curated approach. DJs that spin the music, adding their own take on a particular track and comments. It tends to break up the passive listening and listen more closely.
This is something that I’ve realized as I started buying vinyls and CDs. By time I was listening to music streaming was the norm so I never got to experience anything before.
Switching to vinyls makes me appreciate full albums and music in general. I also have my own streaming server for stuff I want on the go, but even then I listen to full albums more.
There’s a good video by Benn Jordan on Spotify and how it is bad for artists and will ultimately fail. The thing I can never get over with something like music streaming is that I have nothing left after it is gone. I want to go back to my old music more than with movies or TV I have watched before (I can see the value of streaming video more, if simple to use and not as fractured as it has become).
Music is one of the most important things to me. After years of going back and forth on streaming, my running theory is “you get out what you put in”. Streaming is useful, but after years of it, I developed habits that were anti to the way that I used to enjoy music. it was harder to have those moments when music becomes magical
I’m doing the self hosted thing now. moving far away from streaming (but not necessarily ditching it) feels like a step in the right direction
For me streaming has introduced me to new artists and genres I would have dismissed in the past.
Before I was just in a bubble of either the option of popular annual hits or listening to few albums. But, I actually don’t like most albums and only like few select songs from lot of artists. So I’m really glad for streaming and the new content it has exposed me to help me diversity my musical tastes. It’s made me love music again after it starting to feel stagnant when you don’t have the amount of diversity available.
I don’t plan on getting rid of my music subscription, but this is why I’ve started purchasing vinyls for the albums I love. Choosing to spin a record is a commitment to listen to that album and you get much more appreciation for the music.
Yeah I moved away from Spotify as well. There’s just honestly so much that seems nice but isn’t.
Spotify’s shuffle is not random, it is an algorithm. They want to keep showing you popular tracks. If I shuffle on an artist’s page there’s like 0% chance the first song will be an unpopular one from years ago.
Plus they don’t even pay the artists what they’re worth so why should I pay Spotify?