Is streaming profitable......

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vinylnvalves
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#1 Is streaming profitable......

Post by vinylnvalves »

Saw this, does it mean that niche HQ streamers like Quboz are doomed.? https://www.digitalmusicnews.com/2023/0 ... ankruptcy/
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Nick
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#2 Re: Is streaming profitable......

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Not sure if its the same thing. MQA tried to sell itself as HiFi to consumers, a money generating encryption to record companies and something that added value (somehow) to streaming hosts. Just because it tried to sell itself as HiFi doesn't mean it was HiFi and its failure doesnt mean that HiFi is not a real value to streaming hosts.

I like Neil Young's quote from that link:

"TIDAL’s master is a degredation of the original to make it fit in a box that collects royalties,” the rocker wrote on his website. “That money ultimately is paid by listeners, I am not behind it. I am out of here. My masters are the original."

I still think what I used to think from its first appearance, MQA is a solution in search of a problem.
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simon
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#3 Re: Is streaming profitable......

Post by simon »

Yeah, I don't think MQA=high res. Amazon don't use it AFAIK and they have a lot of high res stuff.

I don't know what the respective values of the companies are but if MQA was crucial to Tidal they would perhaps be thinking about buying/rescuing them.

You know where you are with a good slab of vinyl :-).
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Nick
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#4 Re: Is streaming profitable......

Post by Nick »

simon wrote: Thu Apr 27, 2023 4:39 pm You know where you are with a good slab of vinyl :-).
You say that, but...

https://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/ ... o.1150351/
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simon
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#5 Re: Is streaming profitable......

Post by simon »

I take your point, but I'm not too precious about it really. There are good recordings and bad, I just prefer the sound of vinyl.

The recommended video i got at the end of the one above was the guy interviewing MoFi - it's 59 mins long and I've only watched the first 12 mins but it's fascinating. They do sometimes use a digital stage - they use 4x 256k DSD and they think it can give the best sound quality. And the comments about compression and limiting making some tracks sound like different mixes were very interesting too.

Anyway, this is going rather off topic...

vinylnvalves
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#6 Re: Is streaming profitable......

Post by vinylnvalves »

Aren’t most of these streamed back catalogues redbook format anyway. So along with the slab of vinyl is the silver disc there too. I never liked the idea of a virtual musical collection, as there are many stories of them not being transferable. So having my digital music on a server and the CD’s stashed in boxes from which they were ripped in the loft is my Luddite solution :D
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The Stratmangler
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#7 Re: Is streaming profitable......

Post by The Stratmangler »

The point of streaming services for me is to listen to new music, and remasters (usually hi-res) of old favourites.
The recent Steely Dan releases sound tremendous in 24/192, as did the Frank Zappa 24/192 releases.
I've also heard plenty of new (to me) artists.

I have boxes of silver beer mats/bird scarers that have been ripped to a NAS as FLACs and stream those locally all the time.

The cost of entry to Qobuz is just under £13 a month - saves adding to the charity shop/landfill, and it's having new musics added every week.
Chris :happy3:
Daniel Quinn
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#8 Re: Is streaming profitable......

Post by Daniel Quinn »

I don't think Steely Dan would be to impressed .
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Nick
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#9 Re: Is streaming profitable......

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Daniel Quinn wrote: Sat May 27, 2023 8:32 pm I don't think Steely Dan would be to impressed .
Well, whats left of Steely Dan (I assume you mean the band) seems to have no problem with the process
Donald Fagen has overseen a new remaster of Steely Dan’s 1973 LP, Countdown to Ecstasy, which will be reissued on vinyl on May 26 (via Geffen/UMe). It is the latest in a series of reissues that began in November with a new release of the band’s debut, Can’t Buy a Thrill. Bernie Grundman is remastering all the records in the reissue series.
https://pitchfork.com/news/steely-dan-r ... -on-vinyl/
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#10 Re: Is streaming profitable......

Post by Daniel Quinn »

I'm perplexed how remastering a vinyl copy of one of your albums indicates thumbs up for streaming your albums ?
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Nick
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#11 Re: Is streaming profitable......

Post by Nick »

Daniel Quinn wrote: Sun May 28, 2023 12:18 pm I'm perplexed how remastering a vinyl copy of one of your albums indicates thumbs up for streaming your albums ?
So would I, but given that you replied to a post (I can only assume the previous post to yours was what you were replying to, given the lack of quotes in your post) that was talking about remastering, I assumed that you were talking about remastering.
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The Stratmangler
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#12 Re: Is streaming profitable......

Post by The Stratmangler »

The Steely Dan remastering project is widely known about https://www.digitalmusicnews.com/2022/0 ... ovember-4/
As a result there are CDs, SACDs and Hi-Res files, as well as streaming services in various resolutions, and on top of that there are the swanky 2 x 45rpm vinyl box sets and the standard vinyl 1 x 33.3rpm releases.

Next up is Pretzel Logic, if they're doing them and releasing them in the original release order.

I have both of the 33.3rpm releases, and they sound great :D
Chris :happy3:
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