Streamers Unite

[Mark C Flick]

There are so many companies streaming these days that I just don't see how they can survive as is. How long before they realize people are not going to go for 13 different streaming services. Seems to me they are going to start getting together to bundle these services and we will be right back to where we were with cable and satellite.

 

[JStewart]

Seems to me they are going to start getting together to bundle these services and we will be right back to where we were with cable and satellite.

I agree and to me it actually already seems worse now than dealing with a cable company because the ground is constantly shifting. It feels like a lot more work now for less programming.
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Assuming one can get the services they want economically, then there's the ISPs price for internet without "bundling", i.e. much higher.

Honestly I don't feel any better off. Maybe I'm doing something wrong?

 

[Sonnie]

I don't see but two bona fide players for music right now, qobuz and Tidal, and I'm still not sold that one is any better than the other at this point. I can't say that one has something I prefer that the other does not, although I am still paying for both to make sure. For me... there is nothing anyone else offers that I'd care for at this point... so they are the same as non-existent to me.

As for video... not necessarily the same as music, although there are two key players, Netflix and Amazon HD, that I keep. Unlike music, there are a lot of programs/shows offered on other video streaming networks that I end up occasionally subscribing to, then I drop them. I'll probably pick them up again for a month or so after a year. They only have one or two shows I care about. If I were to subscribe to all of them simultaneously, it would cost a fortune, and I still can't get everything I need to replace Dish Network.

 

[Todd Anderson]

I don't think 2020's numbers are out yet, but Spotify seems to be the 500lb gorilla in the market. Memory tells me they had nearly double the number of subscribers to Apple Music during 2019-2020. I think we're talking somewhere in the realm of 130 million subscribers to maybe 60 million. I believe Amazon Music and Pandora are right behind Apple.

I agree with you guys... TIDAL and Qobuz are of the most interest to me, but I think we're in the smallest of minorities on that front. When you look at cost, those two companies come at a premium.

I tried to get my family to switch from Spotify to Amazon HD or TIDAL. It was a total no go - my college and high school age daughters immediately protested because they share Spotify playlists with friends.

So, we are a multi-service household.

To your point, @Mark C Flick, something is going to have to give. There were rumors of TIDAL having financial issues several years ago (no idea if those rumors were founded)... and it's hard to believe there's room for two services at the top-end of the market. The good news is: the industry has shown a lot of interest in Hi-Res. Much more so than just a few years ago. Honestly, I think the biggest hurdle has become simplifying the technology from a marketing perspective. Audio resolutions and File types are too confusing for 99.9% of the population. The industry would do itself a huge favor by creating a tiered categorization system that is appealing AND easy to understand. If that was universally adopted, it would make it easier for a music lover to understand what they're paying for.

 

[Sonnie]

Yeah... I'm looking at it from a totally critical music listening point of view (and for the love of Roon). We use Pandora here at the shop and pay $3.99 per month for it... have had it for 4-5 years now, but this is the only place we use it.

For those folks using phone, tablets, computers and headphone/ear buds, etc... probably Spotify, Pandora and Amazon win out with popularity of the masses. Perhaps Amazon might buy out the others, but I'm not sure I see the others merging.

 

[Mark C Flick]

I'm a Pandora user when Wi-Fi is available otherwise it's music downloaded from iTunes. My biggest complaint with Prime music is the iOS13 requirement. I mean, really? I'm positive my iPad mini 2 can handle a little music streaming.