@nostupidquestions When purchasing Music (£0.99 each) how many plays would you say made the purchase ‘worth it’?
0, I buy music to support the artist. The value is giving back to a musician so they can create more.
That’s a big motivation for me, too, but I’d say it’s about equally that I want archival of the best stuff for when rights holders pull their catalogs from the services I stream. I used to think that was mainly for the more obscure stuff, like local bands’ early albums that I can barely find anymore, but recently I’ve noticed albums missing from main services (Tidal and Spotify, in my case) for bigger acts, too.
If I get to keep the music in mp3, flac, or some other file format? Even a single play is worth it
Depends on what you’re buying IMO. If you’re “buying” it in the sense of buying license to listen to it like with DRM like iTunes, nothing could make that worth it IMO. But if I’m buying physical media of the music itself (eg. Vinyl) then I’m usually willing to pay whatever the market price is for that album.
iTunes is DRM free, you can easily move the MP3 files to any device (even ones that have never had iCloud access).
I don’t buy physical as I would wear it out playing the only track I would want to listen to on the album (as often it’s only 1-2 songs I am actually interested in.
So why not just pirate it? When you buy digital music, only a miniscule fraction actually goes to the artist.
Often Pirating can come with not only risk but also can be not the best quality out there, the easiest pirating method I know of getting music is finding the song on YouTube and that is defo not studio quality.
I know not much will go to the artist but this is the best I can do without the money or ability to go to there shows and not enjoying Streaming Services.
Pirating FLAC is vastly superior to buying mp3. What u smoking???
So pirate FLAC? There are so many FLAC files out there.
YouTube is typically 128kbps AAC.
If you want to bitch about quality, learn what actual quality is.
At any rate, most downloaded Apple files are 256kbps AAC
Op is a Mac user… disregard their tech opinion.
As a Mac user myself, I pirate FLAC because the quality is superior to most things I can buy, most albums I like 1-2 songs and it’s definitely better to just pirate and go to music festivals.
Anyway, I pirate FLACs and transform them to ALAC to sync it to Apple Music, the worst but only form to conveniently listen to HQ music on iPhone. (I still miss PowerAMP on android)
the easiest pirating method I know of getting music is finding the song on YouTube and that is defo not studio quality.
That’s the worst possible way to do it. You might as well try to hook up a tape recorder to the radio like my dad used to.
There is literally no risk if you know what you’re doing, and you can get identical quality to what they sell. Go check out !piracy@lemmy.dbzer0.com
There is literally no risk if you know what you’re doing
if you know what you’re doing
Which he says he doesn’t
I always hate these questions (is X worth it?) because you’re asking the Internet to give you an answer to a subjective question. If you want to sort out the answer for yourself it comes down to how much money you can afford to spend on entertainment and whether you think £1 of that amount for a song is worth it.
If you’re rich and £1 doesn’t matter in slightest and you like the song then it’s “worth it.” If you’re poor and you have £20/wk to spend entertaining yourself then maybe not. Anyway who knows, if you think the song is worth the price then go for it.
Also, just to throw this out there, there are an awful lot of ways to listen to music on the Internet that won’t cost you anything. You could always use one of those then later go back and buy music that’s particularly meaningful to you. Remember that streaming music pays the actual artists almost nothing, go buy physical media (or better yet go to one of their shows and buy merch) if you want your favorite artists to actually see any money.
So the reason I purchase songs digitally is a few reasons;
- Purchasing an album is really expensive
- Purchasing the album is stupid for me as I normally only like 1-2 songs on it.
- I’m really autistic and can’t deal with going to an artists shows
- I don’t like how Streaming services work taking money no matter how much I listen to the music
- Digital Media can be copied and saved
- I know I could just download the MP3 from YouTube but I like to pay something towards the work
These are all really good reasons to purchase digital media, but the comment above still has a great point that this is super subjective and we can’t answer for you. In the end, I echo their sentiment that “if you think the song is worth the price then go for it”.
0
I am like you. The way I listen to music is not the conventional way in which someone has a playlist and goes with it for a while, then add new music, etc… I am autistic too, and my music routine generally implies having a song or two on repeat for the day because they are a form of stimming for me. So I don’t use streaming services if not for trying new music before seeing if I want that song.
My rule is that if I find a song I can be comfortable with to listen to it for a while hour on repeat and I still like it, I’ll buy it. If that happens, that song is probably going to be my next stimming song for days or even weeks, meaning I’ll listen to it hundreds or thousands of times. If that’s the case, I’ll buy it.
On some rare instances, I find an artist that I really like because they have more than one song that helps me and then I’ll buy their album just to show support to what they are doing.
I also can’t go to shows because they are a nightmare to my brain and its lack of sensory overload control.
I have a $10/hour entertainment budget. If a movie ticket is $15 and I get 1.5 hours of entertainment then it was a good purchase. if I pick up a game for $60 then I expect to get at least 6 hours of fun from it.
Using this measure I’ve decided books provide some of the highest value entertainment and fancy restaurants some of the lowest value entertainment.
But that’s just me.
That means the answer to the question would be 2? After two plays you have about 6 minutes of entertainment which are worth $1.
Btw I do the same entertainment budget calculations (as well as “what is my free time worth”)
So long as you enjoyed all 6 minutes. A full album might offer more long term value.
Why not listen first and then decide if it’s worth buying? Go listen to the songs for free on YouTube or other means. Then if you like it, buy it for any price you feel is fair. I do most of my music shopping on Bandcamp, you can listen to the songs there before buying. For older albums it isn’t uncommon the artists let you name your own price.
You don’t “buy” music. You buy a license to listen to that music for as long as the license issuer still owns that particular song.
So never. Pirating music is the only path to ownership.
Some services do still offer DRM free music file downloads. So you can still buy music
Homie is literally talking about buying from Apple music. Take your high horse and blow it
no
You actually buy music? Lol 🏴☠️
