I Sold my CD Player!!! Streaming sounds so incredible!!!

One of the downsides to streaming mentioned, and that is sudden disappearance of recordings from streaming services. And it will be the exact same artist and album from both Tidal and Qobuz. I presume disputes with artists and/or record labels here? The funny thing is sometimes they reappear, either dispute settled or are these server glitches? So, one might consider purchasing the cd of the deleted recording, sorry that cd may no longer be available for purchase. Shazam, magical disappearing act.

Point is, yes, recordings disappear from streaming services, but physical media disappears as well. I fully expect production and distribution of cd's to continue to decline, in recent years I've observed two sites I previously purchased cd's from ceasing business. I expect both vinyl and cd's will continue with very limited releases available.

@jimmyblues1959 "Vinyl and CD are more popular than ever????" Unfortunately, nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, just the opposite of what you stated is true. Yes, vinyl and CD may still be popular with old farts like us, for all the reasons you so explicitly stated. However, amongst the young, say, ages 18-40, vinyl and CD are virtually nonexistent. In today’s world, the vast majority of those who represent the future of high end audio, or, music listening in general, stream their music exclusively. Yes, I’m afraid that todays world of high end audio has become more like an exclusive club for more well-heeled senior citizens like us who grew up with and are still clinging onto the old technologies that we still hold so dear to our hearts. And that, in a nutshell is what today’s high end audio represents. High end audio seems to be becoming a dying breeds, perhaps because of it’s inability to embrace and promote the new digital technologies, instead of allowing itself to become dominated by the old and antiquated. Go take a visit to your local high end audio shop, or go out and attend one of the big audio shows, you’d think you were at an old folks convention for the middle age and beyond, Lol. Sad, considering how beautiful and vibrant the world of high end audio was in years past. If there is to be a long term future for high end audio, it must embrace the new digital world, or else it will eventually fade away along with all us old farts. Happy listening.

In regard to artist's remuneration. The most popular artists do just fine between streaming royalties and concert dates. The obscure and/or unknown artists likely do better with streaming vs. hard copy. For one they get far more exposure via streaming vs. cd/vinyl, Vast majority of these artists won't get promoted by a record company and it requires resources to produce hard copy. Nope, these types of artists have been advantaged by streaming,

Really? Sounds like rationalizing to me. 

More popular platforms, however, aren't as competitive. Spotify pays artists around $0.004 per stream, and Apple Music pays $0.007 per stream — meaning artists would have to receive 4,000 streams per hour on Spotify or 2,286 streams on Apple Music to make the $16 minimum wage in California.

Here's a way to deal with proper compensation for artists but some will complain about having to pay more for the service by raising each stream to a whole penny!  Don't forget that Sean Parker started it all with Napster as a way to steal royalties from musicians and is celebrated as a hero for doing so.

We've become so accustomed to this model that it's accepted as normal, which would explain a lot of things. Whenever I browse and come across something I like, I buy a CD, which the artists really appreciate. 

All the best,
Nonoise

In the real world, working musicians have to market their own CDs (or vinyl) at shows or on sites to justify the cost of those things, and nobody (or nearly nobody) makes much money selling physical product. The value of streaming is to advertise yourself and maybe entice somebody to come to a show. If you're actually good (many aren't) you better hit the road hard and long until you can sell out little room and get some actual bucks. Recording deals just ain't the way as they generally saddle you with huge expenses and often take your control away. That's simply how it is.

 "Vinyl and CD are more popular than ever????" Unfortunately, nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, just the opposite of what you stated is true. Yes, vinyl and CD may still be popular with old farts like us, for all the reasons you so explicitly stated. However, amongst the young, say, ages 18-40, vinyl and CD are virtually nonexistent. In today’s world, the vast majority of those who represent the future of high end audio, or, music listening in general, stream their music exclusively. Yes, I’m afraid that todays world of high end audio has become more like an exclusive club for more well-heeled senior citizens like us who grew up with and are still clinging onto the old technologies that we still hold so dear to our hearts. And that, in a nutshell is what today’s high end audio represents. High end audio seems to be becoming a dying breeds, perhaps because of it’s inability to embrace and promote the new digital technologies, instead of allowing itself to become dominated by the old and antiquated. Go take a visit to your local high end audio shop, or go out and attend one of the big audio shows, you’d think you were at an old folks convention for the middle age and beyond, Lol. Sad, considering how beautiful and vibrant the world of high end audio was in years past. If there is to be a long term future for high end audio, it must embrace the new digital world, or else it will eventually fade away along with all us old farts. Happy listening.

Music streaming = 84% of music industry revenue

Spotify subscriber count = 700+ Million

Apple music subscriber count = 200+ million

Bandcamp: 180+ million

Soundcloud: 140+ million

Youtube music = 100+ million

Amazon music: 82+ million

Sirius XM: 33+ million

Deezer: 10+ million

Pandora: 6+ million

Napster: 5 million

Tidal = 2 million

Qobuz = 200k

etc

Number of vinyl records sold in 2023: 49 million

Number of CDs sold in 2023: 38 million

Such is life, it appears.