Yikes. I just discovered the "Music Business Worldwide" website and wish I hadn't. Lots of things in this pair of stories that will make you spit--not least the preening, the condescension, and the self-satisfied ball-swinging by my new favorite corporate villain bent on world domination, Sir Lucian Grainge, Chairman and CEO of Universal Music Group. "[W]e are delivering a diverse and growing range of business and creative opportunities to our recording artists and songwriters." Uh-huh.
https://www.musicbusinessworldwide....ming-in-q3-as-overall-revenues-grew-13-3-yoy/https://www.musicbusinessworldwide....-streaming-platforms-tiktoks-future-and-more/
IMO, a further assault on us cretins who still value our LOSSLESS Physical discs! So they're poised to make billions ...... by 'renting' their lossy music to the unsuspecting...good for THEM ...but not US!
For years, we've spent our money on substandard CDs, scratchy vinyl and even LOSSY 5.1 surround mixes which may be fine for some ... but for the discerning audiophile...
just more of the SAME.
I recently purchased a boatload of XRCD 24/32 bit remastered CDs at roughly 1/2 to 1/3 of their original list and was
astounded how great the lowly 16b/44.1 can sound
when properly mastered. And yet for years, all the majors have been giving us 'remastered' crapola in the form of compressed/loudness wars RBCDs which we dutifully purchased and REPURCHASED ad nauseum!
And have all those artists REALLY been fully compensated for their music during these windfall profits? Not if they don't have those
overpaid 'creative' accountants/lawyers who reside on the payroll of all those mega music corporations!
There really is a LOT wrong with this picture so on my part I'll just continue searching the world wide net for physical media which meets my own private criteria.
If their sister companies in the Movie industry can release stunning UHD4K discs and price them as low as $7.99 which, IMO, requires a hell of a lot more work and money than music only discs, then I say to the unsuspecting public ... BUYER ...
BE EVER MORE VIGILANT...as those gentle STREAMS can suddenly morph into perilous waterfalls for ourselves and for the artists as well!