As an LP buyer since the summer of ’69 I’ve witnessed many changes in the way recorded music is made available to the public. Some of these changes have been favorable; most, in my opinion, not favorable and driven by the greed of the music industry instead of meeting the needs of the customer. Quadraphonic, Dynaflex, 8 track, CD, ever-escalating retail prices, you name it, foisted upon a consumer base that just wanted the product they loved at a fair price.

In the 70s the industry cried wolf about home taping, not understanding that perhaps home taping was a result of high retail pricing. The industry should have, but didn’t, “get a clue”. And like most of the public I just kept on buying while prices rose, formats changed, and the recording industry bloated itself nearly out of existence. The CD boom brought oldies re-releases a-plenty – nice for the consumer, great for the record companies, not so great for performers, etc who saw little or no royalties from re-sale of decades-old product re-invented for a new listening format the public did not really want.

CD sales began to level off around the time of the PC boom. File sharing services such as Napster [[which I never accessed) boomed. Clearly there was a market for on-demand music. Instead of reacting with innovation and foresight the recording industry stuck its head in the sand and sued. After Napster, YouTube. Anyone and everyone could [[and did, and still does!) upload officially released music, bootleg music, bootleg video, etc. No one earned royalties, everyone watched, and Google bought. Did the recording industry see a trend? Apparently, not. Performances streamed, royalties lost, commercial ad time sold, and Google getting richer. The recording industry? Lost in a fog while new firms create streaming services such as Spotify.

So as a consumer, what is my choice when I want to access music I love but is not readily in print? Buy an MP3 copy? No, I tried and just hate downloading music. Spend $100 on a used copy on eBay? Not gonna happen, and even if it did, there are no royalties paid on resale. Only eBay and the scalper get rich. Deny myself the music I love because the industry holds it hostage? Nope – Spotify it is.

I fully support the artists, etc who seek a fairer share of royalties for streamed music – but I refuse to deny myself until that happens. At lease SOME royalties are paid by Spotify, as opposed to the other options I’ve outlined. Artists, producers, etc need to unify themselves to make the change happen.


We can all beat our breasts, rend our garments, and shake our fists at the sky over the indignity of it all. But streaming is not the future, it is now.