In this age of streaming music services, many fans would never consider buying an album. Still there are at some good reasons for buying separate albums too. That said, the music services are excellent and you will be a happy customer for sure. We will here give you the New Age music perspective of this new world order of digital music.
Napster and similar once illegal services changed the face of the music business forever. Now we have a multitude of great, cheap services to choose from. It has never been better to be a music fan. For a monthly fee you’ll get millions of tracks for on and offline playback. But when you stop paying, your music goes away. That is the deal.
For a niche genre like New Age music the selection of titles on the major on demand services is generally very good – both for a major and minor artists. It is hard to distinguish between the major services Rhapsody, Napster, Spotify and Mog. Not all the services have New Age music as a category to choose from, but all have the genre as searchable tag words.
Even though 20+ million tracks available for streaming may seem like a lot, you will quickly find holes when searching for more obscure New Age music artists. Many minor artists, both active and inactive, do not always offer their music for streaming. Here you will have to purchase their album on iTunes, CD Baby, or the artist’s homepage. You will also get access to brand new albums. It is also hard to say when a new album will show up in your streaming service. It might be ready for playback right away after release, or it might take months or even years (or not at all because new albums from that artist or label is not featured on your service any more). Albums can also be removed without notice.
Many people do not like to commit to a month by month subscription service. It is still value in buying individual tracks or albums. This is music you own and you can organize it as you like. You are in charge, just like when you bought LPs or CDs. It is also important to know that the artists earn more when you buy complete albums. For minor artist there is more money in a handful of purchases than many thousands streams. The best way is to purchase the album directly from the artists or labels themselves, eliminating the high service fee they have to pay (which can be as high as 50-60 percent of the purchase price).
We must not forget Youtube either. As a free, unrestricted video service nothing can beat this offer. The selection of New Age music is good, and you can make your own playlist or watch ready made channels. Note that the artists get very little payment here, or nothing at all. If you want to support the artist, buy the album or stream it on one of the above mentioned services instead.
Our initial question was; what is the best, to buy or stream New Age music? The best answer is both. Streaming services are great, but don’t limit yourself to whatever they have to offer. If you have to buy an album now and then, feel good about it. You have made the artist really happy!
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