Dominance of music formats over the years

[admin]

https://www.visualcapitalist.com/cp/vis ... by-format/

Interesting visualization of the different music formats over the years. We are now truly in the age of streaming dominated music. It's nice to see vinyl making a comeback as well.

[roberto]

Thanks Admin,

It is great to see the evolution of the formats through the years. I am wondering what it's coming in the future. I am so happy with the progress in the last five years. All brands are always searching new paths and new designs for the best possible audio gear.

My problem is that I am spoiled by Conrad Johnson. Thanks to God, I have a good customers that brings different and good quality goods, so I can almost can be updated with.

Thanks again,
Bobby.

[admin]

I think there are predictable outcomes. For example, I'm not surprised that streaming has taken off. It has made access to music not only convenient but incredibly inexpeinsive. Near 100 million tracks at about $10 a month. Who can beat that?

I think I was surprised by the incease of vinyl in the past decade. Who could have predicated that it would see mainstream resugance?

[Big Dog RJ]

Thanks for sharing Admin, that's certainly interesting data.

Didn't surprise me that vinyl made a come back but I didn't know it was going to happen at that level. Second in total revenue to streaming and beating CD sales, that's pretty darn good!

If I was to venture into this hobby now, I would not bother with vinyl at all. The TT rig, cart and phonostage plus other bits & bobs... too many choices and too cumbersome. Digital and streaming would be the way to go.

An interesting thing though, just a few years ago when considering the digital front as the main source, you could get by with decent gear and have respectable quality. However, if you wanted reference standard quality, you'd have to spend a fortune on gear like DCS, MSB, Taiko, Aries Ceret and so on. Not affordable by any means and now there are quite a number of other mid-priced gear offering various levels of digital playback systems that are real vfm. So now, it doesn't cost a fortune to gain access to quality tunes.

Although I may not consider streaming any time soon, it does spark interest. Since my collection of vinyl continues to grow very carefully, such that now I only look for quality recordings and more so on the reference recording labels. They come at a much higher price, I guess it's worth it especially when played back on a high quality system. So I'll continue to play LP's as much as I can.

On the digital front I'm extremely happy with the Esoteric digital player but even Eso has now gone several models higher. They've advanced even further in such a short time span, it's mind boggling to even keep up with the newer versions. One thing for sure is there's quite a big margin between the previous K0-xs series to the new XD series. That margin is over 4 times the price! I'm wondering whether it's even worth it... I've heard them and although superior on every level, I really can't justify the spend, around 70grand for a transport plus DAC and another 20grand for the clock. That's 90grand for digital playback. I think it's highly unnecessary but then for those who can afford it, why not!

Cheers to digital!
RJ

[Wildcat]

Interesting chart, if a bit flawed--I don't believe the values there were adjusted for inflation. I think that would have provided a better ratio of the formats to one another in the chart. Still, to see how the formats grew and shrank in popularity is very interesting.

Long live the 8-track?

For me, the saddest part is seeing how streaming dominates the market, mostly for the artists' sake. They receive a pittance for streaming plays, as opposed to what they get through album sales (either LP or CD, or as downloads). And with Ticketmaster/Live Nation and their promoters pulling their shenanigans, live gigs don't bring in the money like they used to either, at least for the larger acts. It's no wonder many artists are using smaller labels or self-releasing, sometimes selling direct to the public and/or using Bandcamp, where they get a more generous cut.

I do use streaming (via Qobuz), but I am not a typical mainstream user (like those who don't own any music, and stream everything exclusively). I use it most often out of curiosity to sample an artist's work, especially if I'm considering a purchase. There are also many times where I want to check albums and compilations looking for a certain version of a song (different mix, different recording, etc.) and use Qobuz to see which version is on a particular release. There are also sound quality concerns--if I have an early CD version, I like to see if more recent masterings or high-res versions sound better, and they often do. Sometimes they sound worse. It's also been handy to listen to albums on release day (and thankfully, most of those were one-and-done--I'd never have been happy purchasing them, which I'd have done in the past).

I'd like to say streaming has saved me money in bad purchases. Yet I also discover other music I'd never thought of, and have purchased that instead. So it's probably costing me *more* in music now!

Vinyl is a mainstay here, largely due to the number of LPs I own which either have no digital release (or a very rare import release that is expensive and/or difficult to find), or sound better on vinyl than in digital (which is usually due to mastering). And even so, finding cheap records is still possible, and a $2 gamble on something that looks interesting is still fun to spin when I get it home.

[admin]

I agree. The chart is just something that I found interesting. It does not influence how I consume media. I like different media for different reasons. Regardless, the rapid chanes in format preference was interesting to watch in real time.

[AnotherJohnson]

It reflects what’s going on in the US.

I’ve read that in Japan there is a higher appreciation for hard media.

As I advance in the quality of my streaming, it remains clear that hard media are more reliable, more consistently good, independent on a third party isp, and less tolerant of listener laziness.

Says the man who is presently streaming Martha Argerich.