How Do You Get Your Music?

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

Many assume digital sales of their favorite music is what makes the artist their money. Those people are sorely mistaken. Generally speaking, the artist make the majority of their money with ticket sales for live events as well as merchandise.

Later in their careers, many start their own label usually under their parent label. The reason for this being they want to make money off of new artist as was done to them. So buying music through sites like iTunes or other popular services as little as $0.04 per purchase may actually go to the artist.

Other services like Spotify which stream music either for free with ads or for a flat monthly rate can pay artist even less than that. 2015 was the first year in recorded history that "old" music (anything over 15 months) actually outsold the "new" music. Also, Beatport (the leading source for DJ's to legally acquire DJ ready tracks) recently went bankrupt.

I personally know several people over the years who put tracks up there and made less than $5 for the life of the release even though the track charted in the top 10 for quite some time.

Over the past few years, many artist have embraced previously dead formats such as vinyl or cassette tapes leading to a resurgence of those formats while also giving the artist a bit more for their work.

My question for all you Hypesters is what is your preferred method of getting access to your fave tunes?

Also, how often do you go out to local music related live events in your area?

 

[johnniewalk]

I will get my music through search engine that means online

 

[Bleep]

Everything is online nowadays. I miss the days when I sing along with the CD by reading the inlay.

 

[Lord]

Usualy youtube, sometimes Spotify too

 

[Euron]

Spotify. It's just very convenient.

 

[Duran Man]

I typically download from iTunes, but when I like most or all of the songs on an album (after I've previewed them on iTunes) and I like the album artwork, especially if it's from a Canadian singer/band, I buy the CD.

 

[PopeAdrian37th]

Since I mostly only listen to Buckethead I download his material straight from Bandcamp. You have unlimited downloads in a huge selection of formats and there's a free app so you can access your library at any time. Outside of Buckethead I usually buy cds.

 

[blueharvest]

A combination of CDs and listening to songs on YouTube.

 

[PopeAdrian37th]

I have a chunk of vinyls but no record player. They make sweet wall decals.

 

[Dark Victory]

Usually, I find out about music through websites I check out frequently (Rolling Stone, Fader, Soundcloud, Pitchfork, Resident Advisor, etc.), or whatever pops up in my social media feeds.

I have a subscription to Apple Music and I use it a lot. Same with Soundcloud, although I've fallen away from Spotify and Pandora.

 

[AnneFan]

I usually buy albums physically if I'm a big fan, for the sake of collections. Eg. The Beatles, U2, Madonna, etc. Otherwise I'll just download off iTunes.

 

[ComicChick]

i will remind all that discussing illegal ways to obtain media is not allowed on the hype.

i buy cds of artists i really like, other than that i'm mostly digital. itunes gives out free music every week, Tuesdays i think. google play store does as well, or has major sales. amazon prime has opened up for music.

there are plenty of apps; pandora, sportify, iheartradio, songza etc

i also check in here at least once a week for deals:
http://forum.blu-ray.com/forumdisplay.php?f=196

 

[Sex]

 

[Arach Knight]

Once in a while, I acquire CDs from my local record shop. I do enjoy the serendipity of walking down an aisle and selecting a band or artist based on their name, their album coverart and the names of the tracks. I've yet to be let down by that method.

Still, times are different than the days of my youth. More often than not, I use digital storefronts, mostly Amazon Music, sometimes iTunes, on rare occasion, Google Play Music. I use to rely on iTunes the most, but a lack of a client on non-Apple mobile devices has seen to a decline in my use of the platform. Amazon music is available on iOS, Android, Linux, Windows, Mac OSX. That makes it my go to choice.

As of late, I have been scouring Band Camp. I appreciate that they offer FLAC for those that care for high-fidelity audio (though some tracks on Band Camp are converted to FLAC and not true raw recordings). Band Camp also offers better discoverability compared to competing platforms.

As for streaming services, I used to use Pandora back in the early 2000s. The service of the platform has undergone such a dramatic shift that it is an unenjoyable experience. Too many ads, too many songs repeated, not enough user control to skip songs. I haven't looked at streaming services since then. I do feel that streaming services can be great for discovering new music. Still, I'd rather spend $!0 a month simply buying an album I'll actually like and listen to often rather than paying $10 a month to mostly listen to music I don't care about.

 

[Lily Adler]

Stream through Spotify or Pandora. I buy through Groove/Xbox Music

 

[PopeAdrian37th]

Last cd I bought was the new Megadeth album. I was going through Best Buy trying to find it and becoming more and more disappointed with how small the section was. I remember back in the day there was at least 3 aisles, now it's all compressed to one.

 

[christianreese]

Everything is online nowadays. I miss the days when I sing along with the CD by reading the inlay.

You read my mind.

 

[christianreese]

I usually use spotify. Sometimes i use youtube too. If I like what I hear on Youtube I usually buy the CD. Selling and buying CDs is a lost art nowadays, but I still have a small collection of albums which for me are timeless. Every once in a while I add a new cd of a band/artist I've found via Spotify or youtube.

I think spotify is great to listed to some tunes you have no intention of buying. Easy digestible hit songs which would be forgotten in several months are what spotify is made of.

 

[RachelM6]

Through spotify, I've got a student code so I only pay £5 a month for it

 

[Zantera]

I'm oldschool even though I've grown up in the modern age, but I got that from my dad I think. I collect Vinyl and CDs, but I do most of my listening on the computer, and then it's usually 320kbps or V0 mp3's.

I don't like streaming services like Spotify, for many different reasons, but I get why others might like it, and it's a nice platform for me to share my own music on, and make some money from, so I'm still happy the option exists, even if I don't use it myself.