Streaming music catalogs are they worth all? – The World

Le Monde | 07/01/2015 at 17h59 • Updated 07/02/2015 at 10:11 | By Florian Reynaud

Whether Taylor Swift, AC / DC or The Beatles, the absence (or arrival) of a renowned artist on a music streaming service is still much talked about. And because all platforms now offer more or less the same catalog that Dante is counted in tens of million songs.

Le Monde peeled catalogs six music streaming services and compared them with the rankings of the best albums made by a number of specialized titles. Were taken as the basis of the “100 best albums of all time” according to the magazine Rolling Stone , the fifty best albums from 2010 to 2014 according to the site Pitchfork, and top 25 albums respectively in 2014 magazine Noisey , the site specializes in electronic music Resident Advisor, and alternative music magazine New Noise . These rankings were crossed with catalogs of Spotify, Deezer, Google Music All Access, Tidal, Rdio and Napster.

boycott all services or any

Ultimately, over 200 selected albums, only thirty are missing one or more streaming catalogs. These limitations can beings global or limited to one country, because of different contracts between the labels and record companies and businesses like Spotify and Deezer.

In most cases, these albums are available on none of the major platforms – 19 of the 30 non-accessible albums streaming. Among them are, in particular the Beatles’ discography, the most famous example. The absence of the group is due to a deal with iTunes, Apple’s online store. The contract was signed in 2010 after three years of tough negotiations between the brand and the rights holders, who have always strictly controlled the dissemination of pieces of Fab Four .

Other albums are accessible only partially – it is possible to listen to some songs scattered in best-of, but others are missing. This is the case for Trout Mask Replica Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band, or for Superfly Curtis Mayfield.

Let s ‘Whether classics such as Back To My o Phil Spector, contemporary commercial successes, such as 1989 Taylor Swift, and albums for smaller audiences as mbv My Bloody Valentine or Apocalypse Bill Callahan, the missing music from the streaming service is usually all others. Individual agreements are secret, but some artists have left the very media streaming manner. This is the case of the pop star Taylor Swift but the singer of Radiohead, Thom Yorke, who both strongly criticized the streaming industry they accuse of not sufficiently compensate artists. Thursday, July 2nd, the singer Prince has decided to withdraw its greatest albums of all streaming platforms except Tidal, the service purchased by the rapper Jay-Z.

catalogs are almost identical today and competition streaming services around the waist of their catalog pales. Indeed: Spotify, Apple Music, Deezer, Napster or Quobuz offer all the millions and millions of songs, much more than what most keen music lovers can listen to in his life – and few hit records that are present in exclusive visit either of these services. Apple seems to want to reverse this trend by negotiating big exclusives. Indeed, albums of Nine Inch Nails and Dr. Dre are now available on Apple Music.

Strange disparities

also winning the exclusivity for the album 1989 Taylor Swift, one of the biggest commercial successes of recent years, after a highly publicized dispute, Apple Music has made the biggest blow to the day. So far, the excluded were played on albums more minor, such as Kill For Love Chromatics, available on Spotify and Napster but not on Tidal, Google Music and Deezer. Released in 2014, the album Faith In Strangers Andy Stott, is it available on Google Play All Access, while the album Incredible Dude Shellac is exclusive to Spotify.

It is very likely that these exclusives are actually only geographical limitations related to different record companies contracts with streaming platforms. The album XXX Danny Brown, for example, seems available on Rhapsody (only available in the US), but also Germany and England Napster (Napster belongs to Rhapsody and can be accessed in Europe). Yet it is impossible to listen to the album on the French version of Napster. Even stranger, it is available on most other streaming services like Spotify.

Some situations seem absurd, as the album Past Martyred Saint EMA, available on Spotify but not on Napster, Google Play All Access and Deezer but not Tidal. Likewise, the album Moodymann of the artist of the same name is not found on Tidal available … and everywhere else.