My current rules are that I'm gonna spend £10 a month on music (what I'd be paying Spotify) and try to buy directly from artists. I'll allow myself listening to stuff on Youtube so I can gauge whether or not I wanna then go ahead and buy a song or an album if I've listened to it enough times and want it in my library.
But there's some other stuff which I'm not so sure of. If I already own a physical album, do I go grab it for free somewhere on the internet because it's already mine? I am gonna start off by listening to what I have and trying to build my library with that £10 a month, but I guess I'll see where it goes from there and what sort of accommodations I'll make.
My ultimate goal is to have the kind of integrity that I'd want other people to approach my music with -- I'd want them to pay for my music, so I'll pay for theirs.
Where do you land on borrowing albums from the library, downloading them to add to your collection, and then returning them for others to enjoy? I often forget what a vast collection even the library in our tiny town has. Options!
my laptop is one of those new ones without a disc drive!! which in my opinion, is ridiculous. if I had one, I think I would do this or start buying CDs from secondhand shops. you have tempted me though.... amazon says a drive is only £25......
i have been trying to figure out how to best do this! i bought and downloaded an album off of Amazon music and then added it to the Swinsian app. But sometimes Amazon doesn't have certain albums available for download. I've also bought music off of iTunes and manually added it to the app. Trying to figure out which is the easiest way to do it!
Oh, how I miss the days of paging through an album cover while listening to it. And I still love listening to a whole album, but that mostly happens in the car because that is the only place I still have a working cd player.
But on the topic of non-streaming music player apps for phone and ipad - do you have any more suggestions? I bought Data Lords from Maria Schneider via ArtistShare a few years ago, and have been listening to it using VLC, but are there any other good recs?
yes! as a teen I used to have the album booklets torn up and stuck on my walls. It was all part of the enjoyment and ownership of a record.
I can recommend Swinsian and Foobar2000 but I also heard good things about MusicBee in my research, although it's only for Windows, which is why I didn't download it. Might be worth checking it out if it's relevant to you!
oh brilliant! I've been reading so many articles which have been convincing me to stop using social media and I feel like this is part of that path as well. I wanted to give people a green light to step away from streaming subscriptions! glad you've felt inspired to take this step too!
Don’t forget that you can download your Spotify streaming and playlist data - take it with you when you go, it costs nothing, and you keep all that hard-earned listening history!
I did a post about it recently if you’re interested
No problem! It’s a little clunky and I still don’t know if a free way to get the history imported to any other service, but it would hopefully work for your purposes.
Oh! This is so interesting and a great way to retain the new finds that Spotify did facilitate so that those artists can be supported directly. Thanks for spelling out the steps to execute this.
Cool recs! Never heard of some of these bands, but Violins by Lagwagon was especially awesome! And so are Cloud Nothings. Can’t wait to listen to more of their songs.
Hell yes! I've been considering ditching streaming lately since I can't deal with half-assed listening-skipping, next next next-ing through music. Fuck it, maybe I'll go all in on vinyl...
yeah that was another thing which i realised -- i feel like i've been listening a bit closer now as i have to find things that i love in what i already own.
Yeah! I commented about that below. I spent the new year party playing old records on LP and I had such a wonderful time. It felt much more meaningful that playing directly from streaming. The physical aspect of it has a beauty on its own. I can’t afford to buy new records but I can enjoy the ones I do have (from my mother’s collection) and discover (old) new music!
Ah! I love this so much - it's just way more meaningful and memorable isn't it? That reminds me: I need to go pillage my dad's record collection (he's still into CD's...)
Having recently found my giant binder of CDs that moved with me from dorm to dorm in college, the thought of transitioning back to music you can hold in your hand occurred to me. Granted, there's a heavy influence from what was being peddled by a Columbia House subscription in the mid-90s, but perhaps some nostalgia is exactly what I need while I cook dinner or sit quilting. There's something to be said for pulling the disc out of the sleeve and placing it into the machine. I'll definitely be eyeing the digital options you so generously suggested as well. Thanks!
was just looking back at this piece and came across your comment! love that binder of CDs. i think physical music helps us to be more present. i have a boombox in my room which takes cassettes, so i've been building an odd collection recently. i'm sad that my Granddad's collection got donated when he passed away 8 years ago, he made tons of mixtapes which I wish I could still listen to.
I recently cut ties with Spotify too, I also wrote an article on my reasoning and I enjoyed reading your reasoning which was definitely different than mine.
Tidal is def better sound quality -- a couple friends of mine have switched over to it. i considered a different streaming site but i don't really like the interfaces of them and the pay-out for artists is pretty similar across the board. there's been some people campaigning in the UK to get streaming regulated better by the government, hopefully that becomes something real in the next few years.
Thank you .. I’ve enjoyed listening to your New Year song. I realised artists weren’t paid well but didn’t know quite how poorly. This is a great idea.. I will look into doing this too. 🎶✨🥂
thanks for stopping by Carolyn! artists can get bigger/better income from other things like gigging etc, but it's much like authors not being paid for copies of their book! thanks for listening to my NYE song and I hope you have a good one when it comes :)
Love this!! This feels like yet another sign from the universe that it’s time. Also it’s hard to believe we’ll always have ALL music available for 1 monthly fee. Tiered premium memberships with streaming limits are right around the corner 🫣
absolutely! Spotify announced their most profitable quarter yet in October last year because of subscription hikes and I'm sure they're on their way to maximising it even more. take this as your nudge ✨
Fascinating. I’ve never had Spotify. I love music though but I don’t listen to it very often... I’ve got a couple of old iPods which I’d love to dig out and charge for this year. ✨
damn, thank you for writing this and posting especially about how you replaced spotify. the screenshot of swinsian also gives me the brain fizzies for the days of college when you could browse and play from anyone's itunes who was on the school internet (!!!) god damn those were the freaking days.
hell ya i'm gonna do this but also wait are you...paying for all the music? even like a led zeppelin cd?
My current rules are that I'm gonna spend £10 a month on music (what I'd be paying Spotify) and try to buy directly from artists. I'll allow myself listening to stuff on Youtube so I can gauge whether or not I wanna then go ahead and buy a song or an album if I've listened to it enough times and want it in my library.
But there's some other stuff which I'm not so sure of. If I already own a physical album, do I go grab it for free somewhere on the internet because it's already mine? I am gonna start off by listening to what I have and trying to build my library with that £10 a month, but I guess I'll see where it goes from there and what sort of accommodations I'll make.
My ultimate goal is to have the kind of integrity that I'd want other people to approach my music with -- I'd want them to pay for my music, so I'll pay for theirs.
Where do you land on borrowing albums from the library, downloading them to add to your collection, and then returning them for others to enjoy? I often forget what a vast collection even the library in our tiny town has. Options!
my laptop is one of those new ones without a disc drive!! which in my opinion, is ridiculous. if I had one, I think I would do this or start buying CDs from secondhand shops. you have tempted me though.... amazon says a drive is only £25......
Getting rid of disc drives is one of my pet peeves, too...
I'm sorry for this very basic question: do you buy the music, download the music and then add it to the app you use? Or do you buy it in the app?
i have been trying to figure out how to best do this! i bought and downloaded an album off of Amazon music and then added it to the Swinsian app. But sometimes Amazon doesn't have certain albums available for download. I've also bought music off of iTunes and manually added it to the app. Trying to figure out which is the easiest way to do it!
Waiting for this response too!
just posted it above!
Oh, how I miss the days of paging through an album cover while listening to it. And I still love listening to a whole album, but that mostly happens in the car because that is the only place I still have a working cd player.
But on the topic of non-streaming music player apps for phone and ipad - do you have any more suggestions? I bought Data Lords from Maria Schneider via ArtistShare a few years ago, and have been listening to it using VLC, but are there any other good recs?
yes! as a teen I used to have the album booklets torn up and stuck on my walls. It was all part of the enjoyment and ownership of a record.
I can recommend Swinsian and Foobar2000 but I also heard good things about MusicBee in my research, although it's only for Windows, which is why I didn't download it. Might be worth checking it out if it's relevant to you!
Thanks! Going to check those out.
You inspired me to cancel my Apple Music subscription and listen to your music on Bandcamp!
oh brilliant! I've been reading so many articles which have been convincing me to stop using social media and I feel like this is part of that path as well. I wanted to give people a green light to step away from streaming subscriptions! glad you've felt inspired to take this step too!
For the amount of time we give to social media, and for the supposed "benefit" sometimes it just doesn't seem worth it!
Don’t forget that you can download your Spotify streaming and playlist data - take it with you when you go, it costs nothing, and you keep all that hard-earned listening history!
I did a post about it recently if you’re interested
thanks Dave! I was curious about this and wondered if it was possible
No problem! It’s a little clunky and I still don’t know if a free way to get the history imported to any other service, but it would hopefully work for your purposes.
https://open.substack.com/pub/jamwise/p/i-downloaded-my-spotify-user-data?r=ujm57&utm_medium=ios&utm_campaign=post
Oh! This is so interesting and a great way to retain the new finds that Spotify did facilitate so that those artists can be supported directly. Thanks for spelling out the steps to execute this.
Cool recs! Never heard of some of these bands, but Violins by Lagwagon was especially awesome! And so are Cloud Nothings. Can’t wait to listen to more of their songs.
thanks Andrei! i have a soft spot for happy punk music. you should check out my mate's band Bad Nerves, they have some great singles.
Will do!
Hell yes! I've been considering ditching streaming lately since I can't deal with half-assed listening-skipping, next next next-ing through music. Fuck it, maybe I'll go all in on vinyl...
yeah that was another thing which i realised -- i feel like i've been listening a bit closer now as i have to find things that i love in what i already own.
Yeah! I commented about that below. I spent the new year party playing old records on LP and I had such a wonderful time. It felt much more meaningful that playing directly from streaming. The physical aspect of it has a beauty on its own. I can’t afford to buy new records but I can enjoy the ones I do have (from my mother’s collection) and discover (old) new music!
Ah! I love this so much - it's just way more meaningful and memorable isn't it? That reminds me: I need to go pillage my dad's record collection (he's still into CD's...)
You and many others, I hope!
that's what I hope too, Andy!
Having recently found my giant binder of CDs that moved with me from dorm to dorm in college, the thought of transitioning back to music you can hold in your hand occurred to me. Granted, there's a heavy influence from what was being peddled by a Columbia House subscription in the mid-90s, but perhaps some nostalgia is exactly what I need while I cook dinner or sit quilting. There's something to be said for pulling the disc out of the sleeve and placing it into the machine. I'll definitely be eyeing the digital options you so generously suggested as well. Thanks!
was just looking back at this piece and came across your comment! love that binder of CDs. i think physical music helps us to be more present. i have a boombox in my room which takes cassettes, so i've been building an odd collection recently. i'm sad that my Granddad's collection got donated when he passed away 8 years ago, he made tons of mixtapes which I wish I could still listen to.
I love this so so much
I recently cut ties with Spotify too, I also wrote an article on my reasoning and I enjoyed reading your reasoning which was definitely different than mine.
Lagwagon! Oh. my. gawd. Haven't that band name in years! Curious to revisit their work.
I totally agree about "I believe", a wonderful track by Caroline Polachek, who is amazing.
I left Spotify some time ago but went to Tidal... better sound quality.
Tidal is def better sound quality -- a couple friends of mine have switched over to it. i considered a different streaming site but i don't really like the interfaces of them and the pay-out for artists is pretty similar across the board. there's been some people campaigning in the UK to get streaming regulated better by the government, hopefully that becomes something real in the next few years.
Let's hope that regulation will be brought in. It might require a change of government, however.
They tried to do that in Uruguay last year, it’s an interesting case study.
Thank you .. I’ve enjoyed listening to your New Year song. I realised artists weren’t paid well but didn’t know quite how poorly. This is a great idea.. I will look into doing this too. 🎶✨🥂
thanks for stopping by Carolyn! artists can get bigger/better income from other things like gigging etc, but it's much like authors not being paid for copies of their book! thanks for listening to my NYE song and I hope you have a good one when it comes :)
Thank you x
Love this!! This feels like yet another sign from the universe that it’s time. Also it’s hard to believe we’ll always have ALL music available for 1 monthly fee. Tiered premium memberships with streaming limits are right around the corner 🫣
absolutely! Spotify announced their most profitable quarter yet in October last year because of subscription hikes and I'm sure they're on their way to maximising it even more. take this as your nudge ✨
Fascinating. I’ve never had Spotify. I love music though but I don’t listen to it very often... I’ve got a couple of old iPods which I’d love to dig out and charge for this year. ✨
my boyfriend still uses an iPod touch he's had for years and it is INDESTRUCTIBLE. honestly he was one of my inspirations for coming off of streaming.
damn, thank you for writing this and posting especially about how you replaced spotify. the screenshot of swinsian also gives me the brain fizzies for the days of college when you could browse and play from anyone's itunes who was on the school internet (!!!) god damn those were the freaking days.