To Stream or Not to Stream

Audiodidact, streaming doesn't have to be a case of throwing away the baby with the bath water. I have well over 2500 vinyl, over 3500 cd and way more streams on playlists and favorites. Physical cd's not missed, small format lessened intrinsic value. And yes, an extremely large proportion of my perceived value is in the music, not the format or physical possession. Nearly all my feelings or emotions are aroused when listening to actual music, the amount of vinyl I own is sufficient to meet all my needs for physical media.

Certainly I understand the symbolism physical representations of music mean to some, for those people the monopolization of music as commodity will mean something lost. And I also understand growing commoditization of everything undermines our very humanity.

This is likely inevitable evolution of capitalism, commodifying every possible thing means more possible avenues of profit. And limiting and/or minimizing ownership ensures an endless profit avenue. Unfortunately, the outliers don't generally steer evolution of societies. In the realm of technological innovation, Luddites don't win.

Yes, I can perceive a future where rental music monopolizes, I think we're already to point where majority of music only released via streaming platform. We'll likely not even need individually owned music playback equipment in future. Every single thing we consume will be endless revenue stream for others. The ownership of that revenue stream will also continue to consolidate.