music accumulation methods

[behndy]

so. been stuck at home for a bit. freaking quarantines. love/hate it. it's confusing.

HAS given me time to finally tackle a bunch of smaller projects that i never feel like i have time for. one is going through my music library and fixing tags and genres and shizz to make smart playlists the easy and verbose THING i want.

now, i know i am OLD now. you kids and your STREAMING. the whole idea of streaming music and not having a physical copy freaks me the fuck out. all my books are on Kindle now, i've had them change the names of titles or the covers or even versions. same with movies. it's the Original Star Wars Trilogy problem. how do you know something will exist in the structure you fell in love with it long term? not just owning a right to a use of it, but having it stored somewhere digitally or physically is the only way i feel comfy and safe like being cuddled in a never ending recursion of Red Panda Cat Wife Hug Puddles.

i digress.

i have an aaaaaaaaaaaassssssssssssssssload of stuff i torrented back when i was a broken kicken. as i've been going through who i still listen to and archiving what i don't love anymore, i'm trying to check on newer albums i've missed and when they're on Bandcamp purchasing stuff i've listened to forever and not contributed monies towards.

for peoples that try to amass locally stored versions of media - do you buy? pirate? when buying, what sites seem to give the artists the biggest chunk of their money?

no shaming on pirating or streaming. i get it. SO MUCH GET. just curious if there's a better way than Bandcamp i should be looking at.

love and socially distant pinches and all.

[backwardsvoyager]

Bandcamp is still pretty much the standard. They take a 15% cut on digital downloads. Most major stores like Amazon and iTunes are 40%+

The only option that might give artists a greater share than that is buying directly through their websites / labels, but then you don't have a centralised place to re-download stuff in various formats later on.

I don't have enough income to purchase all the music I listen to, so generally I'll torrent stuff when the artist is deceased or defunct or wealthy or not the rights holder anymore or whatever. Then with newer releases I add stuff to a wishlist and buy it on bandcamp or wherever it's available when I can afford it

The digital library lives on my laptop (foobar2000), and gets mirrored every now and then to a backup drive and an SD card in my phone (Blackplayer) so I can take it anywhere.
Once you've got a system worked out for tagging files it's really not inconvenient. No need to rely on an internet connection, no stress about monthly streaming bills, no ethical qualms about the money you spend on music being invested in weapons tech and anti-vax podcasters...

[Heraclitus Akimbo]

Yeah, I can't do streaming, makes me feel all squirmy.

The huge bulk of my music acquisition these days is definitely bandcamp. As things stand, I don't know of anything that gives artists a better deal.

I'm lucky to live in a place with a robust public library system, and they still like buying physical media, so for a lot of the more commercially-available type stuff I might want to dabble in I'm borrowing and ripping CD's, just like in the good ol' days.

Occasionally when I'm looking for something obscuro someone tipped me to (free jazz, new age, prog, etc) I occasionally go hunting for still-exisiting MP3 blogs, but it's pretty hit-or-miss to find stuff that way any more. (on the other hand, files never go stale... I've been inching my way recently through a heap of new age stuff I downloaded in 2016.)

[oldangelmidnight]

I have no problems with streaming for music discovery. I use Apple Music which seems to treat artists better than Spotify. I like that I can incorporate stuff from my personal collection into the library so I can listen to whatever I want wherever I want.
For stuff I like and want to have forever, I also usually go with Bandcamp and vinyl.
I spent so much time on Soulseek and torrents back in the day and most of that stuff is readily available now. I kind of feel like I wasted my time in that scarcity mindset. But I guess I needed it.

[behndy]

I spent so much time on Soulseek and torrents back in the day and most of that stuff is readily available now. I kind of feel like I wasted my time in that scarcity mindset. But I guess I needed it.

oh man. i feel this in my NETHERS. i've always loved anything Warp put out, i spent sooooooooo much time diving through thier catalogue and any offshoot from their artists. luckily there were some good CD shops near me, always stocked hard to get stuff.

but yes. the BEAUTY of right now is how much in any type of music is available with a minimum of searching. loooove it.

Apple Music - ehhhhhh. kinda hate using iStuff. haven't touched anything Apple for years.

Bandcamp - cooooool. good to know it's the best choice. i try to wait for the days they waive fees then buy discographies off people.

but yeah. one place with everything listed to DL if i need to suits my forgetful ass so much better than on a bunch of different sites.

[behndy]

Once you've got a system worked out for tagging files it's really not inconvenient.

i think of this every time i sit down and tag a bunch of albums. i rarely do one at a time, it's usually 20 or so. it's a bit time intensive, but worth it. i get a little particular about genre tagging, i always do slashes to separate, so IDM/Mellow/Noise can easily be popped into 3 different genre based playlists.

where i have problems is (i haaaaaate the Star system. it's too finicky across different player apps.) when i tag as my favorites.

if someone is considerate enough to only have a good song per album? easy peasy lemon wheezy. but like... i've been going through Ben Frost and Apparat's soundtrack'y discographies and... i like every damn song. kinda defeats the purpose to have every track be listed as a favorite.

that... that's not how favorites work.

hard hard uncooked chard.

[backwardsvoyager]

What helps me most is keeping the library pruned down to <500 artists, so I can at least remember what they all sound like and just jump between discographies depending on mood.

Could never get the genre thing down, I just end up with hundreds of uselessly specific tags... Spicy Jazz, Spooky Bloops, Peengaze, etc.

[behndy]

Mildly Ticklish Back Of The Knee Feels

yah. i think i like a decently broad range of musics? but i have like 6 or 7 genre tags that i combine to cover everything. but i've had the same system since... jebus. i avoided Apple forever, i think a Creative Labs... Zen? Nomad? was the first thing i used a lot, but i thinnnnnnnk the Sansa was the first device i ever had that played MP3's and made tagging stuff worthwhile.

annnnnnnnd the internets says that came out in 2001, around the time of the first iPod.

which means i've been following basically the same naming hierarchy for 2 decades.

boof.

[MaxMaps]

I guess I am still working on loving this section of my musical life again ....

Back in the dark years of "Max hates music... grumble grumble" phase I used to do everything. Download, physical albums, ect.... but I kept of selling CD's / LPs and my record collection got stolen multiple times so at one point I said fuck it and never went back to physical musical media.

I only used Apple music because its on my phone, has a decent library and I can download and play pretty much everything I want to hear with a flat fee. It beats having to buy the black album for a 5th time and a few other records. I might start buying the top 50 album list in the future but that cuts into my guitar lust fund.

[echorec]

Is anyone else shopping at DeepDiscount.com? (is there a better version of this without going full mega store?)

I grabbed some Laurie Spiegel there last year. I don't think it'd be a great outlet for underground stuff, but for Krautrock/Cortini/Eno/pop psych, it seems to be a decent place to buy physical media (LPs, CDs, Blu-rays, et cetera).

They email/text 10-15% off codes fairly regularly and accept PP Split payments, which is nice for those of us who prefer installments over waiting/saving up.

[sutarappa]

Bandcamp feels most ideal for groceries. Favor the grower.

I've withered and rarely make it to the pile of cds / dvds / tapes / anymore. No more physical acquisition. Only gluttony remains in instruments and signal processors. Musically most hand / ear time is spent fondling bass or wang. Most mind time is spent on selfnoise or wang. I've exhausted my being in the stress of consumption, the iron maiden of contemplation. Whiskey, wang, and whatif.

[Warpsmasher]

I've been all about the soulseek for a long time now. Between the convenience of that, and unlimited monthly data, and having youtube in my pocket, it's taken away my need to carry a gigantic library all the time. I don't stress on having a big media collection anymore, because I feel enriched enough with my memories and knowledge of it all ftmp, and if there's anything I want to hear or see or share again, it's usually just a search away. I don't need to pack my hard drives with everything I ever liked anymore, and now I actually prefer carrying small/medium collections of stuff, just some classics and favorites, the recents, and whatever else has been on my mind lately. I still keep respectable collections of music and video on hand, but mostly just for sharing purposes and having some stuff to choose from, and maybe even entertain company with. Definitely more about quality than quantity these days, and certainly not about having everything anymore.

[oldangelmidnight]

I used to be all about Soulseek. I didn't realize it was still a thing.

[friendship]

I've been using Spotify Premium for a while, but it makes me feel gross because the company sucks shit. Plus I tend to listen to the same 3-4 records, slowly rotating new ones in and out. So maybe I should get back to buying stuff from Bandcamp, or look into Apple Music or something.

[behndy]

jia. i've not tried many streaming services, the idea of not having possession of media i've paid for... rankles.

cooooool. looks like Bandcamp is mebbe the best way to go? i do try to wait for Fee Waived Days to do big buys of albums.