AI-generated music is appealing to streaming services, not least because it could potentially eliminate royalty payments and boost profits. While providers such as Qobuz are distancing themselves from AI-generated music, Tidal and Spotify already have very lax AI policies. According to a report by the Financial Times, Spotify is now planning a full-scale AI push, set to launch as early as the first quarter of 2027.
The streaming market leader is apparently adding an optional AI package to its Spotify Premium subscription, reportedly costing $4 to $5 per month, which could make the service’s Premium subscription up to 39 percent more expensive. Those willing to pay these additional costs are expected to receive two main new features. First, the ability to have artificial intelligence regenerate existing songs as remixes. And second, the option to generate any song as a cover version by any band, thereby changing the song’s style.
This is why I buy cds from the artists I like . I have never and will never pay for a music streaming service. I prefer to cut out as many middlemen as possible.
Yeah, I buy a ton of digital and vinyls. Mostly for this reason.
Digital priority
Artist’s website
Bandcamp
7digital
HD Tracks
Amazon Music
I have a 50GB MP3 collection that I have curated since I was a teenager. Every time I hear news about streaming services, I watch from the sidelines and grab some popcorn.
Why MP3 and not lossless tho?
smaller is more portable tho.
(opus)
Opus is an amazing file format.
Oh yeah it was great when I started converting a bunch of stuff to opus. Same quality, less space taken.
I started with 128kbps MP3s (I was dumb when I was young as we all were) so I just stayed with the format. Nowadays they’re all much higher bitrate and I honestly don’t hear the difference.
You can use opus instead of MP3 to save space. 96kbps opus equals to 320kbps MP3.
That’s good to know! Time to batch-convert, I guess. :)
Have you done an ABX test? I love and produce music and have a good ear, and even though its embarrassing to admit, I don’t hear a difference. Honestly I suspect very few people can. https://abx.digitalfeed.net/
I haven’t actually, although I’ve wanted to for some time. I just prefer to store my music in lossless format.
That one is really easy to do, its the best out of many I tried. But yeah that’s fair, I get it from the standpoint of archiving. That extra data could be used for remastering/mixing/sampling purposes potentially
Unfortunately, most artists do not allow buying a digital copy of their music.
Same, it’s nice throwing on a whole album too, something that gets lost in the shuffle streaming.
Usually either try to buy from the bands directly or on Bandcamp. For older stuff, I’ll check out local record stores or Discogs.
Yeah, track 7 is awesome
I learn about new tracks on Spotify. It’s been good for that here and there. Or when someone at an event wants to hear a particular song.
I do both though. Also have a massive mp3 and flac library.
But if this is true I guess I’ll be looking at another service.
There are probably more middlemen to get it from a CD. The least middlemen would probably be downloading from the musicians’ official website.