Why More Music Streaming Services Should Let You Upload Your Own Files
Not a coincidence.
In the theme of Short n’ Sweet, I wanted to spend this week discussing why you should consider (if you haven’t started doing so already) purchasing and owning your music. The main driver as to "why now" for this piece is Plex ending its relationship with Tidal, effectively breaking up libraries for those who used the service.
Of course, I use Roon, which uses similar techniques to blend in your local music library with a streaming service such as Tidal or Qobuz. In fact, I’ve used Roon with both services for a long time, up until Tidal decided to move forward with true lossless hi-res in its catalog.
I may be seen as "old" with this piece, as most of the world has moved on to cloud-based solutions or pure streaming. But I still think a local library plays an important role.
Unofficial Remixes, Unreleased music, and Odd Mashups
As many YouTube Music or Apple Music users will argue, the main reason is for this category of music. Things that are not officially on streaming anywhere. Whether that be unofficial remixes, unreleased tracks, mashups, unofficial live concerts, or simply alternate mixes, having those with you can be essential. That’s especially true for those who are serious about ensuring that all of your music remains available in a centralized location, regardless of what device you’re playing it from.
Of course, YouTube Music makes that stupidly easy as a lot of unofficial music typically lands on the YouTube platform, effectively making it a one-tap motion to add them to your library. Apple Music is a bit more tedious (requires a desktop Mac or PC), but can be achieved fairly easily. You just drag and drop those tracks into the Apple Music app on your desktop, and in a matter of minutes, Apple uploads that to your library and it’s available everywhere Apple Music is available.
I think this is super important as us "super fans" typically have a catalog of unreleased music and unofficial extended mixes that can’t be found on any streaming services (although, they sometimes get released later). I’d argue my music collection would be much less interesting without the countless unreleased Taylor Swift tracks or the excellent SingleWhiteGlove extended Michael Jackson mixes. Plus, it’s always fun when other people hear these mixes and ask, "Where the hell did you get that?"
Alternate (and/or) Original Masters
Have you ever asked yourself, "I swear this sounded different when I heard it last time?" Maybe it’s just me, but it’s super annoying. Similar to collecting vinyl early on, older albums get updated to sound more "modern" (oftentimes meaning the volume gets boosted and you get the brick-wall effect).
Or you might prefer the remastered version. We all have our preferences. However, streaming services typically don’t offer multiple versions of the same release. It’s usually the latest master with the various deluxe, explicit vs. clean, and whatnot. Of all the services I’ve tried to this date, almost none of them offer the original masters if a remaster is available. For me, that’s a shame as I typically like to listen to the original master or "as the original artist/band/engineer intended." Sometimes, you get alternate mixes, too. Maybe the original version has alternate ad-libs, lyrics, or a better volume level.
This is totally doable with YouTube Music and Roon. Sadly, Apple Music tends to replace those files with the updated remaster. Spotify Local Files will take whatever you have and sync it to your desktop computer or mobile phone. It’s not quite the same as the others as you have to manually sync them over a cable or your home Wi-Fi and isn’t available when you ask your smart speaker to play that track, for example.
You Own It
I think my last point is probably the most important one. You own the files. The streaming service can’t take these away from you. As someone who took a few years to move into the streaming music era, this was probably the driving factor for many years. I’d argue it’s still something I deal with pretty regularly, even today.
The hope is that if a version of an album is pulled from a catalog and is replaced with an updated copy, that it will be automatically replaced in your library and/or playlists. This is almost never the case. For the most part, they’ll just be greyed out and your streaming service won’t tell you about it. Not until you try and look for it and play it is when it says it’s unavailable.
It sort of ties in with my previous point. Typically this happens because it’s being replaced with an updated master is uploaded to the platform. Labels and services will make the previous version unavailable.
But the best reason for this is library portability. The biggest pain in switching music streaming services for me is carrying that catalog and playlists and having to move them to the new service. That’s much easier if you have local files and are moving from a service that supports local files to another one that does. That takes some of the guesswork away.
Plus, what if we all move on from streaming services in 10 years? Wouldn’t you still want access to at least some of your music?
Conclusion
Look, I’m not saying it’s viable for everyone, nor should everyone do it. Streaming has its perks. You can play practically anything you want without having to think about it. Environmentally, it’s great because the music streaming service just needs to keep one copy of the album or track and can send that out to millions if not billions of people simultaneously.
Whereas local files technically creates more digital waste as each person would need a personal copy of the file. The solution, at least for me, has been to have a hybrid library. My local library is mostly unreleased tracks, unofficial mixes, and such. I have a few albums in there, but that’s only because it’s the original master. Usually, if it’s a version I like on streaming, I’ll just stream it. Most of us in the U.S. have unlimited cellular plans and most home Wi-Fi is fast.
Personally, I think local files are an essential part of my decision making process for a streaming service. If there’s no way to merge my local files with what’s available in the broader streaming world, then I’m not interested. In my book, it’s a dealbreaker. Even though my local library only makes up about 10% of my entire collection, it’s an essential part of it.
It’s why I use Roon. It might require more involvement at the beginning to get started, but once you do it, everything is smooth sailing. Roon takes practically any music file and treats it as its own. I’d like to see more streaming integration with Roon, but that’s a whole other can of worms I’d rather not get into today.
I think most people are fine without local files, but I think more streaming services should offer a solution, even if it costs a few extra dollars per month. It would open the door for people like me to try your service.