How do you consume music?

[Northernhibee]

Just one out of interest. In its first week Rihanna's new album reportedly sold as little as 480 physical copies in the US yet
was successful due to downloading and streaming. Would be interesting to see how everyone obtains music.

Personally I'll occasionally get a 'Best of' compilation in the supermarket for a fiver (got REMs one recently) and a CD or two for a quid each in the local charity shop but otherwise it's vinyl all the way. Best sound, holds its value and is just, in my mind, how music should be enjoyed. Flipping through all the records in a rack, selecting the one, carrying it home, removing the shrinkwrap, putting it onto the turntable and lowering the needle onto it - it's the most engaging experience because it also requires the most work.

[Mr White]

Agree re vinyl for warmth of sound but the only album I've bought on that format in the last decade was the last pink floyd album 15 months ago. I like cds for listening in the van but i don't buy them anymore as £10 per month to Spotify for unlimited access to almost all the music I'd ever want to listen to is far better value. And far more convenient too as it's available on a device I'd be carrying around in my pocket all day anyway. Spotify is a great thing imo.

[Northernhibee]

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Agree re vinyl for warmth of sound but the only album I've bought on that format in the last decade was the last pink floyd album 15 months ago. I like cds for listening in the van but i don't buy them anymore as £10 per month to Spotify for unlimited access to almost all the music I'd ever want to listen to is far better value. And far more convenient too as it's available on a device I'd be carrying around in my pocket all day anyway. Spotify is a great thing imo.

I used to listen to Spotify until it became public how little recording artists are paid from it - it's pretty disgusting and cheapens the artform of writing and performing music.

[Mr White]

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I used to listen to Spotify until it became public how little recording artists are paid from it - it's pretty disgusting and cheapens the artform of writing and performing music.

Yes but given you can download most of it for free if so desired my conscience is clear. Plus I'd love to see most of those ****s have a shot at supporting 2 kids as a self employed joiner with a dodgy shoulder. Life's tough

[Hiber-nation]

I collect CDs, download from Amazon occasionally and have Spotify on most days.

I don't give a monkey's how much recording artists get paid from Spotify - I pay £9.99 a month and I'll buy the CD if I hear something I like so I think I'm making a reasonable contribution.

[Hibrandenburg]

Napster. I used to spend about €60 a month on CDs and like books they were taking over my house. With the exception of a few books/CDs I've now got rid of them all and use my kindle for reading and napster for music. Only costs me a tenner a month and I can listen to what I want when I want. It's not just music either, there's loads of ebooks, kids stories and even stand-up comedy recordings. My DVD collection is also in danger with the acquisition of Netflix.

[Sylar]

Primarily via streaming services (Deezer rather than Spotify), Youtube and a couple of radio shows (Daniel Carter's rock show on Radio 1 being a staple).

I'll confess I've used the illegal services such as torrents - primarily from a testing point of view and if I like what I'd downloaded/listened to, I would go ahead and buy the album. That activity has ceased considerably with the wide coverage streaming services now provide.

[lord bunberry]

I listen through Apple Music

[blackpoolhibs]

Not bought an album in maybe 20 years, everything is just downloaded from illegal sites and then played with itunes.

[HibeeLR]

I used to illegally download all my music and transfer it to my phone, however, now I use Spotify, only because I get the 50% off student discount.

[danhibees1875]

Radio or Youtube.

Never used to listen to the radio, but quite enjoy it on the walk to work these days.

[jabis]

vinyl records,love them.
Girlfriend hates them.

[patch1875]

Streaming on Spotify.

Put all the CDs on a NAS and sold them all.listen to them via Sonos but very rarely now.

[Craig_HFC]

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I used to listen to Spotify until it became public how little recording artists are paid from it - it's pretty disgusting and cheapens the artform of writing and performing music.

Spotify for me. The above doesn't bother me as most artists are ****s anyway (even the ones I like)

[Northernhibee]

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Yes but given you can download most of it for free if so desired my conscience is clear. Plus I'd love to see most of those ****s have a shot at supporting 2 kids as a self employed joiner with a dodgy shoulder. Life's tough

Just to play devil's advocate - if someone took over your entire industry and said "Well, we're setting up this service that the vast majority of people will use because it's seen as convenient. They'll pay us £30 an hour but we'll pay you 50p per hour and if you don't like it then tough, there's no negotiating. If you don't want to sign up to this we'll make sure that you're seen as stingy and selfish".

The life of a touring musician is far from easy - irrelevant of what the artform is, culture is worth supporting in my view.

Just trying to spark a bit of debate here

[SteveHFC]

iTunes. Have over 1150 songs on my iPhone.

[Mr White]

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Just to play devil's advocate - if someone took over your entire industry and said "Well, we're setting up this service that the vast majority of people will use because it's seen as convenient. They'll pay us £30 an hour but we'll pay you 50p per hour and if you don't like it then tough, there's no negotiating. If you don't want to sign up to this we'll make sure that you're seen as stingy and selfish".

The life of a touring musician is far from easy - irrelevant of what the artform is, culture is worth supporting in my view.

Just trying to spark a bit of debate here

I'm sure it's not easy but my point is that very few people do have it easy and talent and hard work only get you so far when income is determined by market forces such as supply and demand.

If the scenario you describe above happened to me then 1. I'd be glad of any income i could generate if customers could effectively steal my services for free if they wanted rather than pay at all and 2.i suspect any attempt on my part to tell the customers
that they should be paying more than they already are would fall on deaf ears.

The music industry is still getting to grips with the size of the shift to online streaming in the last 20 years imo and things will even out. If this gets more bands out on the road touring to earn their income then that's no bad thing.

I probably spend about the same on Spotify as i would on cds or downloads in a year otherwise, but i get an almost unlimited access to the music i want. Offer most people that kind of improvement in value in something they buy and they'll go for it. Surely the bad guys here aren't spotify and their subscribers but people who share and download music for free?

[gogs_t]

Apart from cassettes which I only really used for my walkman or the car so became pretty redundant, I listen to music in all the formats listed.

Still have all my vinyl collected over the years and could never part with it. Was a major part of my 'growing up'. Still play it and I know where some of the crackles come in and it's part of the music. Have bought the occasional bit of vinyl recently but only if I get access to the MP3 download or it comes with the CD.

I don't really do the illegal downloads. Have been know to rip the occasional tune from youtube but pretty rare.

Still buy CD's every month and treated myself to a new CD player recently as still had the amp and speakers but was playing CD's through a pretty poor DVD player.

Rip a lot of my CD's to listen to on my phone and I must admit I do have a big MP3 collection

I used Spotify when it first started but very rarely over the last few years as I preferred to play the music I owned. But then I got a Sonos at Christmas and I must admit that this is now on regularly and Spotify has got a reprieve!

[MyJo]

Just signed up for Apple Music for the three month free trial and its great.

They also do a "family membership" for £14.99 a month which gives up to 6 people/devices access to stream music on one account.