Music Streaming service question...

[chuxster]

I searched and didn't see this discussed anywhere, so...
I'm interested in hearing folks thoughts about the various music streaming services with regard to traditional bluegrass, newgrass, folk, old-time, etc. I know many have free trials and I'm happy to try some out, but would love to learn about your experiences. Thanks in advance.

[Doug Brock]

I want this info too! I’ve been wondering about Spotify.

[kegcrowe]

I use pandora (the free version) and its as easy as picking a genre or favorite artist. Also use amazon music unlimited (monthly subscription), so lots of stuff you can put in your library for free (and play 50 times in a row-- currently on repeat #251 of Adam Steffey's cluck old hen). have Sirius radio in the vehicles, and play Bluegrass junction a lot, the village is the folk channel

[DHopkins]

I have satellite radio but I'm becoming disenchanted with the bluegrass channel. They seem to assume that if it's acoustic and has a mandolin in it, it's bluegrass. A lot of it is not necessarily bad but it isn't bluegrass. I'm old and I prefer the more traditional "high lonesome sound" type of bluegrass.

I have a pretty good collection of bluegrass CDs. That and a flash drive will keep me going.

[B381]

I use Pandora.....a lot.

[John Bertotti]

I use iTunes, I did have pandora paid but switched. I get most of the Celtic, Irish, metal country and whatever from them.

[gfury]

I'm pretty happy with Spotify. We have a family plan that allows up to 6 devices. I can find all the bluegass, folk and Americana that I want to listen to, or play along with. I like being able to play what I want, when I want.

[saxdog]

I searched and didn't see this discussed anywhere, so...
I'm interested in hearing folks thoughts about the various music streaming services with regard to traditional bluegrass, newgrass, folk, old-time, etc. I know many have free trials and I'm happy to try some out, but would love to learn about your experiences. Thanks in advance.

I am a big fan of Tidal. Tidal has master quality files for streaming and a very large library. The audio quality is excellent - especially if you use a good Digital to analog converter. https://tidal.com/

[MontanaMatt]

I have Spotify, it has a great folk, bg, and historical collection. Some unique stuff is not present though. Overall I'm blown away.

[Douglas McMullin]

I had never really thought about it, but I have an Amazon unlimited account primarily for my daughter and there appears to be quite a lot of anything I can think to search for. Not sure how it compares to other services, but it does allow you to download tunes to your phone so you are not sucking up data on the road.

[Frankdolin]

I've tried Pan,Spot,Amz, ect... And if you don't have any music library there OK. BUT they all have the same selections of generic and very common songs which get repeated over and over and over and over.............

[Chuck Leyda]

Don't forget Bandcamp.
Most of the money goes to the artist, you get unlimited streaming, as well as high quality downloads if you want em.

[Steve Roberts]

I subscribe to Google Play. $9.95 a month and they have almost every album and CD I can think of in a huge variety of music styles.

[DaveGinNJ]

I use Pandora.....a lot.

I really like the instrumentalist bluegrass channel on Pandora. For all types of music, the learning functions works well (figure out songs to play based on your preferences and listening history)

[Russ Donahue]

If you have a phone or computer, Bluegrass Country is just about all you need!
They have an app for phones and an app for computers.

https://bluegrasscountry.org/

[Folkmusician.com]

Been very happy with iTunes/Apple Music, but mainly because we are heavy Apple users, the integration is great and we get to share the account among 6 family members so the price isn't "that" bad. If not an apple user, would choose something else.

[NursingDaBlues]

I haven’t jumped on in a while (and I don’t know why I haven’t), but I have truly enjoyed WDVX.

89.9 when you’re in Knoxville. Live stream when you’re not.

http://WDVX.com

[Zac Hilbert]

It's on the pricey side of streaming services, but I've been using Deezer for about 4 years now. A couple highlights:
- Excellent catalog. Across most genres I or someone in my family is interested in (including bluegrass/folk/americana, rock, pop, classical, kids music, and so forth) there have been few things that I've had trouble tracking. What I can't track down typically fall into two categories. Either it's obscure and esoteric and I would be surprised to find it anyway, or it's something that some other distributor has exclusive licensing rights.

- Audio quality. I know many are satisfed with 128Kbps or 320Kpbs compressed, lossy MP3s--and on most equipment differences in audio quality are difficult if not possible to discern--but Deezer streams is lossless FLAC.

So I do recommend Deezer, but I agree with previous posters that services like Bandcamp are great too. Unfortunately, as convenient as streaming services are to us listeners, they are not the best for independent musicians (and signed ones for that matter, too.) Every once in a while there are social media posts about looping your friends music on Spotify overnight so they can rack up the royalties. I typically like to point out these more effective ideas:

Attend live shows
Pay covers even if you can get on the guest list
Buy merchandise
Buy CDs/Vinyl even if you don't have a device to play them or are just going to stream anyway
Support artists' fund raising campaigns (Patreon, Kickstarter, etc.)
Offer musicians meals and/or a place to stay
Host a house concert
Support venues that offer fair compensation for the entertainment they book

[Luna Pick]

At home we pretty much exclusively stream Folk Alley, have for years. Highly recommend it.

Otherwise albums that we've purchased and are on our system, or occasionally stream other stations for different styles, countries, etc.