Thoughts and suggestions please

@pcrhkr 

It is very useful information! Thank you for your thoughts. 
Happy listening !

@redlenses03 

The number of musicians who have decried streaming services is lengthy, including Prince, Jay-Z, Garth Brooks, Taylor Swift, Joni Mitchell, Thom Yorke, etc. Taylor Swift - somehow - was able to reach a new deal after her protest, which is a sure fire sign of corruption and favoritism shown by those corporations. 

For clarification:

• Qobuz's Payout Rate: Qobuz, a music streaming service, has made headlines as the first to publicly disclose its average per-stream royalty rate. For the fiscal year ending March 31, 2024, Qobuz distributed an average of $0.018732 per stream in royalties to labels and publishers. This translates to $18.73 for every 1,000 streams.

This from Qobuz:

Qobuz reveals that they pay a relatively high per-stream royalty rate compared to other platforms according to What Hi-Fi

None of the streaming services provide a real number on how many times an artist is streamed per month. In essence, there is no way for any artist (outside a powerful one like Taylor Swift) to know what kind of royalties other artists are receiving from the streaming giants. How is an artist supposed to know the "going rate" when such numbers are not provided? The only way would to be to ask other artists to provide them with sensitive data on income.

For smaller artists, even if they have obtained such sensitive income data in which to utilize in negotiations, they would still lack the leverage to get the streamers to the the bargaining table. The only way for artists to gain a larger share of their own revenues is to be as big - likely bigger - than the giant streaming services themselves.

I think that Taylor Swift's getting a new deal is more a sign of her immense popularity even more than 'corruption or favoritism'. The bigger you are, the more weight you can swing. 

FWIW, I second your concerns about music disappearing from streaming services.  It's happened to me.  If there's an album I particularly cherish, I purchased it.  I have a NAS already set up so storage isn't a problem, but you've gotten some good advice there.

Regarding the "justice" of streaming, like it or not, it's not going away.  I'll say this:  For every artist or group I particularly like and listen to regularly, there are, I would estimate, about two dozen I have at least sampled and often added to my favorites for repeat listening.  These are artists who, twenty years ago, never would have gotten a dime from me.  In addition, many of these chance encounters are indy artists or very small labels that never would have gotten even a hint of exposure under the old system of distribution.

@larsman 

No doubt she is swinging her weight around. I don't stream but I cannot imagine a service not having her on their artist list. And it's likely she has broken records in streaming regards, so figure she gets Bobby Bonilla money! Ever since she got hurt for selling her rights to her music early on in her career, I am sure she has the A-team on it.  

@dogearedaudio 

Aren't streaming services each trying to find their own niche in regards to genre? It would be great if there was a streaming service that was half price of others and marketed itself to finding "new music" that you describe by scrolling through new and interesting artists. I struggle to find new artists, so I look at online playlists from radio stations and then sample the artists on YouTube, but that is not real efficient.