What am I missing?

When you compare cost, even with the ongoing monthly subscription costs over a lifetime, the value of streaming is unbeatable. It would cost me at least multiples of $10k to own all the music in my streaming libraries. While I appreciate the art and tactile sensation of physical media, in the end its the music that matters most for me.

Lack of artist compensation is not an inherent problem with streaming, rather its business model. Present business model works because a critical mass of consumers don't value music greatly. Consumers could demand greater payouts to artists and artists could refuse to release music to streaming services, perhaps this  would lead to fairer compensation. I doubt you'll ever see either of these scenarios take place, vast majority of consumers certainly happy with present situation, and artists want their music to be heard. Think about how many of these artists wouldn't get to be heard if only physical media existed. Distribution of physical media costly, unknown artists have no chance for exposure with that business model.

I still receive mailings from physical media sellers, don't see vast majority of contemporary artists in my streaming libraries with vinyl or cd offerings, mostly twentieth, thirtieth, whatever remaster of older popular artists. How many copies of a single release from artists llike the Beatles, Stones, Steely Dan, etc do I need! Physical media ain't making vast majority of artists rich!

There is a very good 6 part (?) series about the creation of Spotify called The Playlist.  Well worth watching.  Sheds a lot of light on how streaming came to be, where the money actaully goes and how little the artist is being compensated.  Check it out.  

It all boils down to how you run your business. I've bought CDs from European labels that charge around €12-15, and about €9 for the digital download version and some even have a MP3 category for less, along with an album version, usually for around €19-21. So, yes, the artist still can make money the old fashioned way as it all depends on one's morals and ethics, and for some artists, this is their only avenue for getting their music out and they count their blessings as the major labels won't touch them. It's kind of like buying things on Etsy instead of Amazon.

If all artists demanded it, then things could change but all the world is doing is saying goodbye to the old boss and hello to the new one and depending on country of origin, they are stuck with the goofs in charge.

The more successful artists can tour to make old fashioned killer earnings but then the fans have to deal with jackholes like Ticketmaster. Not every artist can do that. 

All the best,
Nonoise

I have about 1600 CD’s and about 1700 ripped CD’s on a NAS. There is a convenience in using the NAS, but the sound is about the same. I just started streaming 6 months ago and am currently using Amazon Music HD. The quality of their music is all over the place! Some tunes that they say are in high res sound horrible when compared to the CDs that I have.

After the holidays, I’m going to do the Qobux and Tidal trials and see/hear what the difference is.