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Comment by ghaff | Hacker News Reader

One important difference is that, at least historically, radio play could actually stimulate the purchase of music so that you could listen to it at a time of your choosing (and without ads). Whereas, streaming on-demand music is increasingly a substitute for owning the tracks for a lot of people.

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Again, this is something that is more fair to the consumer at the expense of the artist. The only reason you owned an album was because you couldn't listen when you wanted to, and were forced to buy it. Now it's better for the consumer, but not the artist.

Sadly, it’s worse for both parties in the long run when creative labour is devalued beyond recoupable investment.

Then we shall return to the times before the 19th century, when people created art because they loved art, not to get rich. I suspect it will lead to higher quality art, even if the quantity is lower.

I believe all that would do is make wealth or extreme tolerance for poverty a requirement to become an artist.

I think artist will have to focus more on cultivating a strong fanbase globally and leverage it for merchandise and live performances. There is lots of money to be made being an idol.

Go read about YouTube or Twitch burnout to see what happens when artists are forced to go that route.

You mean artists should do ads? I find it ironic seeing this suggested here. How do you feel about ad-blockers then?

What nonsense. I don't think there are many musicians today who don't love art. The problem isn't just being unable to get rich, it's being unable to afford to be a musician at all, and that was certainly not the case before the 19th century (there were plenty of paid positions for musicians).

Personally, I'm not totally sold on streaming music being better for the consumer although I do have a subscription. I like to own any music I really care about.

That said, it's an easy statement for me to make given that I was buying music on vinyl, then CD, then digital downloads before there was much in the way of streaming. So, even leaving aside the vinyl, I had a large collection of owned music before modern streaming hit in a big way. I still buy things every now and then but I have a large core of older music I care about--which is the bulk of what I'm interested in.

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