CDs, Streaming and AI.
I’ve always been suspicious of music streaming because I knew they couldn’t adopt the performance and neighbouring rights of radio because it would make their operations unprofitable but could adopt radio’s vetting, which would cause artists to not only get almost nothing but for some to get shoved aside for recordings that have already garnered mass interest.
Now AI is flooding streaming services and resulting in no royalty payments as recordings are entirely removed because they were popular enough in the states or the United Kingdom, causing people to wonder where their favourite tracks went.
I have always recommended the purchase of film on a physical format because of how fickle the streaming services are and now the situation has worsened in music, causing compact disc sales to resurge upwards as people see other industries go digital, like Sony’s Playstation game console.
Gamers have learned that discs will no longer be produced for this console in 2028 and that the games they purchased online could suddenly disappear from their consoles, some releases having already been delisted. And this resulted in a notable consumer backlash, including a petition that reached over 360,000 signatures in less than two months.
It has become quite clear that these companies are no longer catering to their customers demands but pandering to upper middle class urbanite and sub-urbanite with high speed internet, that accept the opinions of what’s popular according to the companies.
The promise that we would have access to everything and for a reasonable cost, is now gone. And that physical media is the only way to go whilst streaming is simply a means to preview popular films, television programs and music.
For example, when New Zealand actor Sam Neill passed away last month one could easily find the vast majority of his most popular films, including Jurassic Park and my favourite of his films, The Hunt For Red October. But Australian thriller Dead Calm is not available for streaming or purchase for download in Canada, anywhere.
This film got a high ranking at Rotten Tomatoes whilst Bicentennial Man got very low rankings, yet the later is available on Apple TV for purchase because people know it and still like it, like yours truly. And this means our personal preferences are all subject to arbitrary judgements by these corporations.
Multiple generations that have grown up with VHS, DVD and blu-ray rentals are noticing the films of their childhood were either available only for a short time on the streaming services or were never on them in the first place. And they have been purchasing them on whatever physical format is available, causing them to expand their purchases to compact discs en masse since 2025.
I, for one, will probably purchase Godzilla Minus Zero after this film’s initial release in November 2026 because foreign sequels in a language other than English tend to only remain online when it has matched or surpassed the original release‘s popularity. And I will continue encouraging everyone to at least consider purchasing greatest hits compilations on compact disc, so that fans still have their very favourite singles if the streaming services decide to slim down their catalogs and replace recordings with similar sounding tracks made with artificial intelligence.
I am not discouraging the use of streaming services, which are great if you already have the recordings that you listen to on vinyl and/or compact disc and when you want to preview recordings. But if you truly love an album, consider getting it on vinyl and/or, just in case.
Steves Music Store Restructuring
Steve’s Music Store just recently celebrated their 60th anniversary and moved their Ottawa store from their downtown location to Catherine street. And unfortunately it appears that all but their Montreal store and online operations will be continuing because of the retail slump caused by the pandemic and trade issues with the states.
Liquidation sales have begun at in store. Click here for details.
What is my Spotify Age?
Those that don’t use Spotify often will probably notice that they are not provided a “Spotify Age”. And some will wonder what the point of it is anyway, questioning whether it is simply flattery based attempts to promote use of the service.
I like Spotify for it’s convenience when I have forgotten to add songs I had ripped from my compact disc collection to my cell phone’s library but I don’t use it often because I’d rather use my limited bandwidth with other apps. And this is why I have no assessment.
I also use Amazon Music more often so this trend does not apply to me, although I am somewhat curious as to what the results would be. But not enough to favour the service over the upcoming year to get an answer in late 2026.
Quite frankly I’d rather rip music from vinyl and listen to that because I know the artists actually got a fair royalty rate. And greatest hits albums are a great way to get the artists their dues, if you don’t want to buy their most popular albums.
I’m presuming my age is pretty much up there anyway because I tend to listen to classic rock from the 70s to the early 2000s. And can’t say that I like even five singles on the Billboard 100 now.
Oh well…
Canada Post – A Search For Relevance
Now that the strike is over letters and parcels are now being sorted; And everyone involved has clearly stated delays are to be expected, especially for rural communities.
Unfortunately, I don’t see how they could possibly get through it all without delivering letters and parcels this weekend, or at least make some of it available for pick-up at the commercial post offices. But the delivery of parcels to homes on the weekend would not likely be a long term solution.
I suspect the preferable response would be like that of the locker system like found at the larger Canadian Tire stores, where one can use a bar code to unlock a locker containing their parcel(s) at their local Post Office. And I guess some of the empty post office boxes could be adapted to provide that service for smaller parcels.
At the moment I can only pick up parcels at my local post office if I rent a post office box or use FlexDelivery, a service also offered by Amazon Canada and Walmart Canada that diverts parcels to my local post office. But I believe most parcels may not be delivered to the commercial post offices on weekends, and rural post offices are usually also closed on Saturdays and Sundays.
The new community hubs also offer limited services on weekends, which is a shame because parcels could also be delivered to those on Saturdays. But the looming deficits are hindering investment in new infrastructure, which may be necessary for the corporation’s survival.
Small businesses in Canada suffer because they lack access to affordable shipping, including most Canadian sellers on eBay, and there can only be so many conventions and pop up shops through-out the year to help them sell their merchandise, so we’re talking about a major crisis.
Last mile postal deliveries are also an issue for postal imports and everyone that has ever imported something using a courier service knows how expensive their brokerage fees can get ; I’ve actually paid fees surpassing the value of the product imported and the $20 postal import exemption is of little value now because of inflation.
I’m surprised the new trade free trade agreement in-between Canada, the United States and Mexico didn’t include a higher exemption rate, which should have been $60 (like the current rate on gift shipments). But that’s a subject for another post…
The ship has sailed when it comes to personal and commercial letter mail, so Canada Post needs to expand to remain relevant. And that can’t be done without major investment from the government.
Satellite internet should be a priority for the more remote rural offices, with long range wi-fi retransmission, as should the expansion of the community hubs. And that wont be cheap…
Streaming Service Specials
Prime members at Amazon Canada that watch Prime Video will probably notice that heavily discounted subscriptions are now being offered to them.
I just subscribed to Britbox for $2.75 a month for two month, which will go up to $10.99 a month when these two months are over. And this two month 75% discount offer is also available for Crave, Stack TV, AMC, TSN, RDS, Starz, Crushyroll, Super Channel, MGM+, Telethon+, AcornTV, AllBLK, Stingray, The Great Courses Signature Collection, BBC, PBS Masterpiece, PBS Documentaries, Family TV, Teletoon+, Shudder, BBC Earth, Love Nature, OutTV and Smithsonian Channel.
A three month offer is available for Paramount+ at $5.49/month and $19.99/month afterwards and all of these offers expire on December 2nd, 2024.
Prime Day Is Coming (July 16th-17th)
I believe an offer for a free 30 day Amazon Prime membership should be available to new members at Amazon.ca today, the 15th of July, 2024. And Prime Student is also available free for six months for students aged 19 to 24, with a special deal for students in the province of Quebec.
Prime Members who also like to stream music also have an option for Amazon Music Unlimited, which will be free for 5 months instead of one until the end of Prime Day, or 3 months for free for individuals that aren’t subscribe to Amazon Prime.