Deezer (and general music streaming)

[Huw the Poo]

I held out against music streaming services for a long time for all sorts of reasons.  However lately my daughter has been using Deezer and after her free trial expired it became a miserable experience.  As if constant ads weren't bad enough, you apparently can't even choose specific songs to play!  When I became aware of this I took pity on her and resolved to buy a premium subscription for her.

It turns out my lady wanted it as well, and the price of two premium accounts is already higher than one family account, so I bit the bullet and signed us all up.  Now, I still have misgivings about using music streaming but I have to say, I'm using it more than I expected to.  One of my objections to these services was if I wanted to check out an album before buying it, I could just use Youtube.  Deezer makes it a lot easier though, thanks to the simplicity of the web app's interface - plus, I don't have a Youtube account so I can't really save stuff there, which I can easily do in Deezer.

(At this point this post is starting to sound like an advert for Deezer, but this could equally apply to any music streaming service, I'd guess)

There are a few other reasons I use it too - the more artists I add on there, the better its recommendations get, and yes, I have discovered a few good albums as a result.  I have pretty eclectic tastes in music and so far I haven't really been able to stump Deezer, with the exception of artists who choose not to make their catalogues available.

I wanted to discuss my problems with music streaming in general though.  I am definitely going to continue to buy albums that I like enough to listen to more than casually.  I like having physical media because it's always mine.  I mean, what happens when Deezer goes tits up, or I cancel my membership?  All that music I've accumulated would no longer be available - not in any meaningful form, anyway.

Reportedly, musicians also do very poorly with regard to streaming revenue.  I've heard ridiculous numbers more than once, an artist requiring millions of plays to even start making just hundreds of dollars, for example.  That's ridiculous.  Ed Sheeran is on record as saying he doesn't mind because it drives concert ticket sales, but he always sells out his venues anyway.  It must do close to fuck all for smaller acts.  Surely they deserve to make money on the music itself as well as touring/merchandise?

So anyway...I have it, so I'll use it.  But I'm not completely comfortable with it.  What do you all think?

[jamus34]

I use pandora free. I'm satisfied with it in that overall it plays more music than terrestrial radio nowadays.

Overall I wish they had a greater library to pull from, I regularly hear songs multiple times.

[MetalDog]

Spotify is where it's at.  Their artist offering is vast.  You can make playlists by choosing songs or taking whole albums at a time.  They have an easy to use interface.  Any songs/albums/artists you Like are added to your Library.  You have the ability to choose a song, make it into a Station, and Spotify will fill the stream with similar songs as determined by the algorithm as well as your previously listened to songs/artists.  And all of that is free.  You have to sit through 1:30 to 2 minutes of ads periodically.  And yes, it's annoying and breaks immersion, but, I have found that the longer you listen during a session, the fewer commercial interruptions you get.  You'll get more ads if you jump around a bit, but, that's to be expected.  I heartily endorse it and recommend it.  :bd:

[Huw the Poo]

Yeah Spotify is undoubtedly the biggest of them all, but I didn't get on with the mobile app.  It was the first one I tried so maybe I'd do better next time, but I'm perfectly happy with Deezer now anyway.

I use pandora free. I'm satisfied with it in that overall it plays more music than terrestrial radio nowadays.

That's a good point actually; the never-ending playlists these services generate are certainly better than traditional radio.

[MetalDog]

I only listen on my PC.  And I believe you have to pay to take the music offline to your phone or other device.  Could be completely wrong though.

[Huw the Poo]

One month on and I've pretty much made my peace with Deezer.  I use it every day, and more like a radio than anything else because I've trained its "Flow" feature pretty well.  It rarely plays stuff I hate.

And as I'd planned, I'm finding myself still buying music I listen to more than casually.  In fact, thanks to Flow, I'm probably spending more on CDs than I ever have.  So it must be a net gain for artists, at least with regard to users like myself.  If I didn't buy CDs I'd feel differently.

[mirth]

I've been doing a trial of Amazon Prime Music Unlimited and have been very pleased with it. I will likely pay for a sub when the trial is over.

[Staggerwing]

I have Amazon Prime Music and have been pretty happy with it. Walking around the house, barking out "Alexa! play (insert obscure song/band)!", and having it delivered then and there never gets old. In fact...


"Alexa! Play the Fleet Foxes' Mykonos!"


"Alexa! Play Sun Kill Moon's Convenient Parking!'

[bbmike]

Try, "Alexa! Play Boxcar Willie!"

[Barthheart]

Alexa! Play Buckwheat Zydeco!

[mirth]

Alexa! Play The Downeaster Alexa!

[trailrunner]

"Alexa, play play me."

[MetalDog]

Fleet Foxes, Stagger?  Hells yeah!

[Staggerwing]

Alexa! Play The Downeaster Alexa!

Already did that. Great song, btw.

[Staggerwing]

Fleet Foxes, Stagger?  Hells yeah!

Many layers has the Staggerwing Onion...