Do I use Spotify, YouTube Music, or Apple Music? None of the above. I prefer to buy my music outright and listen to it offline—and I’m not talking about vinyl or CDs. That’s right, I still buy MP3s. Considering how many online music stores remain around, I’m not alone. I can’t speak for others, but here’s why I haven’t made the switch to streaming.
I Can Use Any App or Device I Want
Back in the heyday of the iPod, I remember browsing through alternative portable MP3 players. The software helped determine which model to pick over another. Companies were experimenting with different ways to interact with our music libraries, and it was fun.
Now, experimentation has shifted to apps on our phones. I can swap out music apps at any time, and it feels like getting my hands on a brand new MP3 player (short of actually buying a modern MP3 player).
For a while, the open-source Auxio music player (pictured above) has been my favorite app for the job. It has a great app icon and flows nicely with Android’s Material You vibe, in addition to having all the features I’m looking for. When I’m using a Samsung Galaxy phone, I like the consistency of Samsung Music.
Yet just for fun, I hopped into the Play Store and downloaded Frolomuse, just to see how different a layout I could find—this one’s pretty dope.
I also like having the ability to dump MP3s onto a flash drive and stick them into the USB port of my car. This is easy enough to do, and I’m not beholden to Spotify supporting a niche product to make it happen. Then, I can listen to music regardless of an internet connection, and I eliminate the need for Bluetooth as well. I live in a rural area and regularly drive through other rural parts of the state. Perpetual internet access is not something I take for granted.
Streaming apps control the entirety of their listening experience. You can only stream through their apps on supported platforms, and if you don’t like their app design, tough luck. If they make a change you don’t like, you’re stuck with it. That, to me, is a worse experience than the one I grew up with. But being able to swap out apps? That’s pretty cool.
I Enjoy Building a Music Library
I like to collect things, but it’s not the acquisition alone that’s fun. It’s the curation. I like browsing through a selection, deciding which tracks I want to “take home with me,” and building up over time a library of music I’m able to listen to.
I like seeing how this library changes with time. While I may not keep the same songs I listened to in high school, college, or the early years of my marriage on my phone at all times, I do still own them. The songs on my phone today reflect ways in which I’ve changed, and the handful of albums that have stuck around reflect some of the ways I haven’t.
I feel a more personal connection to music this way than I do on streaming platforms, where I can instantly play any song at any time. This is a subjective matter, I know. Spotify users look forward to the year’s summary of what they’ve listened to. They share playlists that reflect their creativity. As for me, I prefer to cobble together a collection of music that I can carry around as my own.
It Feels Good to Support Artists Directly
We feel close to our favorite musicians despite never meeting them. Their words and melodies form the soundtrack to our lives. There are ways we can give back to them, but one of the most straightforward methods is to pay them.
Buying an album outright is a way I can put a few bucks into the hands of my favorite musicians, regardless of how often I play their songs. If I buy several albums, I have a general idea of how much money makes it to the musician after the storefront takes its cut, especially in the case of independent music. Bandcamp even gives me the option to name my own price if I feel inclined to toss in a little extra.
Sure, it’s not a perfect system, and record labels screwed over artists long before streaming platforms took their place. Still, it’s a system where people selling music get to set their own prices and have at least some say in how much they make.
Opting Out of the Streaming Business Model
Streaming services don’t exactly pay musicians. Or rather, they don’t pay much. The biggest stars with millions of streams are able to make a good living, but many find themselves making less than they did from the days when most fans bought CDs. Streaming is an opaque system where musicians get paid fractions of a penny whenever we click the play button next to their song or their track pops up in a playlist.
If the streaming platform’s relationship with musicians were my only gripe, that would be disincentive enough to sign up, but I don’t like the streaming platform’s relationship with me, either.
With digital storefronts like iTunes, Amazon Music, 7digital, and Magnatune, I can buy music outright. I give them money and walk away with MP3s that I can use as I wish. How often I listen to them, no one knows. Whether I put them on my phone or a portable MP3 player, no one knows that either. No one’s monitoring my listening habits, taking note of which songs I use to help me wake up, which allow me to focus during work, and which pick me up when I’m down.
In many ways, Spotify is now a social network. I don’t like having my behavior monitored and logged. I don’t like being so explicitly manipulated. Algorithms have made social media toxic and turned YouTube into a risky place to browse. I don’t want them steering my music, either.
If I Cancel a Subscription, I’m Left With Nothing
With streaming platforms, I hand over ownership of my music, the freedom to listen to those songs wherever I want, give someone permission to log all of my listening habits and open myself up to manipulation by an algorithm. Then, if I decide I’m done with this relationship and cancel my subscription, I’m left with nothing.
If I were to take the hundreds of dollars I would give Spotify and buy music instead, I’d have tracks I can listen to for the rest of my life (and with Spotify’s price hikes, hitting a hundred dollars doesn’t take long). Say times get hard, and I need to cut back on how much money is going out the door. I’m not left fretting about losing my workout music or the tracks I play in the background to help me concentrate as I make more money. I could lose my car and my home, but as long as I have a phone or even just a pocket for a flash drive, I still have my music.
Downloading versus streaming sounds like a simple matter of personal preference, but these are questions of ownership, control, and respect. Streaming platforms take all three of these away from musicians and fans alike (in various degrees) in exchange for permission to access all the songs on the company’s terms.
Fortunately, it’s not all or nothing. You can stream most songs and opt to buy only those you love most. Personally, I’m happy listening to just my MP3s inside my favorite apps, but you can even go a step further and opt for CDs instead.
