[geden]

Let me try and explain again, because I think you missed something.

I don’t think many people do want to listen to this music. And even fans that do might not listen very frequently.

That music might still be incredible, in the same way that any peak experience is. But by kind of by definition, peak experience is not usually everyday. (see psilocybin etc).

CDs enabled those musicians to make a living. Streams mediated by Spotify, which seems to optimise for background listening, do not.

[MuffinFlavored]

Songs that are incredible but I don't want to listen to it every day:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RiZVjfjgNyY 6.5m views

https://open.spotify.com/artist/5vSQUyT33qxr1xAX2Tkf3A 3.7m monthly listeners

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_u5iCHi0Jo 16m views

https://open.spotify.com/artist/63MQldklfxkjYDoUE4Tppz 11.5m monthly listeners

> CDs enabled those musicians to make a living.

What you're calling out isn't wrong but what am I supposed to do, subscribe $20/mo of my money to some fringe artist I like on Patreon? What if I like 10 artists? I'm out $200/mo. It's just not realistic. Make music and work a job? I don't know.

[geden]

Why are you thinking solely in terms of subscription?

Some artists, though not all, (especially older ones who don't want to look like charity cases) allow you to make one off donations, or overpay via Bandcamp for instance. Though Bandcamp and their payment processor take a hefty chunk.

[ghaff]

It is at least a reasonable hypothesis that people bought some CDs they loved but listened to rarely as an experience. Whereas a lot of people including myself much more commonly listen to streaming service playlists as background.