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Topic: The Hidden Costs Of Streaming Music Article (Read 1417 times) previous topic - next topic
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The Hidden Costs Of Streaming Music Article

“The environmental cost of music is now greater than at any time during recorded music’s previous eras.” ~ https://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/the-hidden-costs-of-streaming-music

Streaming bad, vinyl less bad, CDs least bad: ~ "Early on, the widespread use of polystyrene for CD packaging wiped out that advantage, but a turn toward recyclable materials in recent years has made the lowly CD perhaps the least environmentally harmful format on the market."

Not sure if he factors everything in, or does so correctly. As well, reselling and collecting has kept a significant numbers of physical media from being discarded.  Personally, I don't stream mostly due to my own library size and lack of interest in the current industry, however, I think the idea of having the physical CD is worthwhile because I'm not dependant on external services to maintain what I listen to, and it's expensive to stream compared to just listening to what I already have and what I can scrounge for. Of course, I'm old now, I expect if was just starting out, and didn't have a massive investment in an existing library, I'd probably be a subscriber.
Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?  ;~)

Re: The Hidden Costs Of Streaming Music Article

Reply #1 –
I did not see streaming and downloads compared. A download is essentially delivered once per customer. Then on the other hand, some services would stream as lossy and deliver as lossy or lossless, whatever consequences that may have.

Quote from: from-the-article
which suggests that, in 2016, streaming and downloading music generated around a hundred and ninety-four million kilograms of greenhouse-gas emissions—some forty million more than the emissions associated with all music formats in 2000.
Oh, but a bit of that is scale, of course: more music is released every year (even at increasing pace!). Not that it contradicts  the thesis: it has become cheaper to produce an hour of music and therefore more is produced and therefore more server space in total.

Anyway, it would be dubious to draw policy implications from this: as long as there is cloud stream delivery (and so that particular piece of music has to be on server!) you probably do not improve by producing a vinyl or plastic copy in place of a file.
 

Re: The Hidden Costs Of Streaming Music Article

Reply #2 –
Ahhh environmental cost of streaming music, environmental cost of producing music, environmental cost of producing instruments, environmental cost of feeding those who sing and yank the strings, environmental cost of what they excrete, environmental cost of what listeners excrete, environmental cost of processing audio, environmental cost of storage, environmental cost of powering the equipment... we are DOOMED!!! We need to eat the babies!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epwUTVUwB7A

Re: The Hidden Costs Of Streaming Music Article

Reply #3 –
Quote from: rutra80 on
Ahhh environmental cost of streaming music, environmental cost of producing music, environmental cost of producing instruments, environmental cost of feeding those who sing and yank the strings, environmental cost of what they excrete, environmental cost of what listeners excrete, environmental cost of processing audio, environmental cost of storage, environmental cost of powering the equipment... we are DOOMED!!! We need to eat the babies!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epwUTVUwB7A
 
 LMAO! I like the way and for how long the other participants look at her with serious looks, as if trying not offend her or other 'baby eaters' who may happen to be in the room. 

Political correctness dictates these days we should give ears to any crackpot standing on a soapbox.
Listen to the music, not the media it's on.
União e reconstrução

Re: The Hidden Costs Of Streaming Music Article

Reply #4 –
There's an environmental cost to playing a physical device too, be it a CD, record, tape or whatever. Possibly the least damage, on a practical basis, comes from ripping the music then playing it on a smartphone (through headphones) but that's a guess on my part. The music gets played, physically, once and the extra power consumption from playing the track must be quite low. The smartphone has beeen manufactured anyway.

There's no such thing as music that doesn't have some environmental cost somewhere along the line; even a wind-up gramaphone needs manufacturing and non-electronic instruments likewise. Quantifiying "least environmental damage" I'd suggest is near impossible and I'd take any comparisons claimed with suspicion.

Re: The Hidden Costs Of Streaming Music Article

Reply #5 –
After f***ing up the planet big time we create unrealistic compensatory mechanisms (involving too simplistic calculations to make any difference) while continuing with the same consumerism of the last 150 years or so.

It's pretty much like a rapist sitting down with their victim and saying "Okay, I scarred you irreversibly for life, but if I somehow pretend to compensate such attrocity with something as pointless as, say, my giving you more hugs, I can have the peace of mind to carry on abusing you sexually and psychologically till the day you die, okay?"
Listen to the music, not the media it's on.
União e reconstrução