I know there has been debate here and elsewhere about whether or not we are nearing the end of the album/LP era completely, or if they will continue to be released in the foreseeable future in addition to lots of single track releases. I would hate to see the format completely go, as I think there is something that can be more artisitic and deeper in the album format than just singles. Perhaps part of the answer will be if many people continue to stream new album releases in entirity or if that has become a rare thing. I only recently switched over to streaming, though I continue to download albums that I think are really good as an entire work. I also stream entire new albums repeatedly when I think they are mostly good as well as some older albums that I really like. Of course, with albums that only have a couple of standout songs on them and the rest is meh, I just put the songs on a playlist.

So, I was curious how often do you stream entire albums in comparision to listening to singles or playlists. If you do stream entire albums, is it just the old albums from the pre-streaming days or do you also stream the newer releases?

I only stream albums I've downloaded from my own personal CD collection using google music. I have never streamed an album from amazon, spotify, tidal or any of those types of services.

it's remained roughly the same for me. in the 'old' days there were albums that i thought were/are
so good that i can enjoy them beginning to end without skipping any tracks and i really listen to an
album like that all the way through 90% of the time i listen to it.

that hasn't changed with new albums i've discovered since streaming, so albums that i don't own a
hard copy or even a digital copy of. if the albums are good and still feel like a cohesive statement,
with a beginning, middle and end, than yes, i love to listen to them all the way through.

it's usually albums that don't feel like they belong in the digital realm at all, like pj harvey's stunning
"let england shake", marianne faithful's "negative capability" or ed harcourts "beyond the end" just to
name a few.

the albums i used to listen to pre-streaming, i still listen to in the same way on the streaming sites,
either in full if i listened to them in full, or just for certain songs.

..

[Edited 5/13/19 16:34pm]

Nope

I play entire albums that I own; I don't stream anything except movies on the internet.

Quite often.

phunkdaddy said:

I don't stream (f*ck streaming and digital downloads)

I liste to CDs all the way thru almost always. The only caveaut is I've made a few Prince mixtapes of my favorites to listen to. I listen all the way thru but it's not a true album.

Can u stream an album? lol

I dont stream anything, but when i do, it's albums on youtube

Some of yall must not have a kickass bluetooth speaker.

The sound is amazing when streaming. I still listen to a cd

or vinyl on occasion but given the state of music now I don't even

buy cd's anymore. Have not bought one in 2 years.

phunkdaddy said:

Some of yall must not have a kickass bluetooth speaker.

The sound is amazing when streaming. I still listen to a cd

or vinyl on occasion but given the state of music now I don't even

buy cd's anymore. Have not bought one in 2 years.

I stopped buying cd's when I realised that once I'd buy them I'd rip them to FLAC or MP3
and file the cd away somewhere in a box in storage. So that made zero sense.

I did continue to buy digital files directly from the source, like thom yorke's projects or a
few other semi-indi artists, just to support them.

But I'm not exactly sure how long I'm going to continue doing that since I end up also just
listening to their albums on spotify once they show up there.

The only possible reason for me to still buy digital files somewhere is because that way I'm
able to listen to them in my car if I put them on a USB.

Probably there's a way around this and I could 'download' stuff from Spotify to listen to in
my car, via my phone? I don't know. I'm too old to keep up and USB works for me.

So yeah, I don't see myself actually buying hard copies of anything anymore in future.

I *might* splurge on a decent remaster/reissue/expanded series for all of prince's studio
albums, if they ever release those. For nostalgic reasons and because Prince's albums still
feel like something more than 'just' music after all these years. So they'd be nice to have
and hold and look at, read the liner notes etc.

Beyond that, i'm completely converted to streaming.

I no longer buy physical albums, so I stream entire albums on Spotify and Bandcamp.

Interesting how people so far have varied on how they play their albums, but switching to streaming services doesn't turn them to a singles only fan. They still listen to albums. So, perhaps the view in the music industry that streaming will be the ultimate demise of the LP format is off base. It seems that an artist benefits artistically and commercially to have LP releases, as they will get streaming credit from the singles as well as from all their songs when the album is streamed in entirety.

I can relate to both the pro and anti streaming sentiments shared here. I used to resent streaming but since I started it this year I have really enjoyed doing so. It is fun to hear a wider array of artists, to easily explore the full discograhpy of select artists, and to make playlists of the best songs from just okay albums.

gandorb said:

I can relate to both the pro and anti streaming sentiments shared here. I used to resent streaming but since I started it this year I have really enjoyed doing so. It is fun to hear a wider array of artists, to easily explore the full discograhpy of select artists, and to make playlists of the best songs from just okay albums.

I used to be the same way I used to think that streaming was dumb,lol.But when I signed up for Spotify awhile back,I was really impressed with the idea of listening to music that way.I now have complete access to anything that I want to hear.So,along with my massive collection of physical CDs and vinyl,I can enjoy lots of different types of music,from all genres.