lunes, 15 de abril de 2019

Streaming? No, gracias

Muy buenas,
Lo comentamos hace no mucho en el curro:
http://viviendoapesardelacrisis.blogspot.com/2018/07/administrador-de-sistemas-para-groupe.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streaming_media
Streaming media
Streaming media is multimedia that is constantly received by and presented to an end-user while being delivered by a provider. The verb "to stream" refers to the process of delivering or obtaining media in this manner, the term refers to the delivery method of the medium, rather than the medium itself, and is an alternative to file downloading, a process in which the end-user obtains the entire file for the content before watching or listening to it.

A client end-user can use their media player to start playing digital video or digital audio content before the entire file has been transmitted. Distinguishing delivery method from the media distributed applies specifically to telecommunications networks, as most of the delivery systems are either inherently streaming (e.g. radio, television, streaming apps) or inherently non-streaming (e.g. books, video cassettes, audio CDs).
Llámenme carca o paranóico pero prefiero bajarme lo que quiera en la calidad que quiera (http://viviendoapesardelacrisis.blogspot.com/2015/04/escuchar-musica-de-calidad-en-calidad.html) y tenerlo en mis discos duro para poder hacer con éllo lo que quiera:
http://viviendoapesardelacrisis.blogspot.com/2013/05/actualizacion-de-red-lan-de-casa.html 
http://viviendoapesardelacrisis.blogspot.com/2013/11/segundo-montaje-multimedia-de.html 

Varios ejemplos:
-Streaming de música en Tidal: Nos venden un servicio streming de lossless que reduce la calidad en cuanto el ancho de banda de la conexión no lo soporta:
https://tidal.com/about 
https://tidal.com/masters 
 
https://support.sonos.com/s/article/3096?language=en_US
What bitrate and format does TIDAL use for streaming?
TIDAL HiFi - Lossless FLAC 16bit/44.1kHz.
TIDAL Premium - AAC 320kbps

What is the recommended internet bandwidth to stream high definition audio on Sonos?
5 Mbs is the minimum broadband speed required to stream FLAC from TIDAL on Sonos. If streaming different FLAC music to multiple speakers, we recommend a higher broadband speed. This requirement can vary based on your internet usage (large file downloads, gaming, video streaming, etc.)
-5.0 Megabits per second - 1 FLAC stream
-7.5 Megabits per second - 2 FLAC streams
-10 Megabits per second - 3 or more FLAC streams

Please note that streaming lossless audio is bandwidth-intensive for your local network as well. When streaming lossless audio to a Sonos group that contains many players, your Sonos system's capabilities may be more limited than usual. The system might experience audio dropouts or display error messages in the app. In cases like this, you can improve performance and reliability by ungrouping some of your players to make a smaller group, or by wiring some of your Sonos players to the network via Ethernet. This provides more local bandwidth for the Sonos players to use when streaming lossless content.
-Estreno de Juego de Tronos en HBO: Cuando TOODO Dioz estaba esperando a las 3:00 para ver el primer capítulo de la octava temporada, HBO tuvo problemas con su streaming:
https://twitter.com/HBO_ES/status/1117678195367731201 
Estamos experimentando ciertos problemas técnicos. Lamentamos las molestias. Trabajamos para solucionarlo lo antes posible.
https://clipset.20minutos.es/juego-de-tronos-8x01-descargas-ilegales/
Última temporada de Juego de Tronos, caos de streaming pero éxito de descargas
-Juego de Tronos 8x01 se ha convertido en un éxito total en las redes de descargas ilegales
Sinceramente, PASO.

Actualización a 01/05/2019: Vaya, vaya...
https://elpais.com/cultura/2019/04/30/television/1556619759_859629.html
GAME OF THRONES 8X03
¿Era demasiado oscuro el último capítulo de ‘Juego de tronos’? Tiene una explicación técnica
-La compresión de los contenidos y la forma de consumir la serie minimizan la calidad del tercer episodio de la octava temporada
Álvaro P. Ruiz de Elvira
Madrid 30 ABR 2019 - 14:59 CEST   

La recta final de Juego de tronos tiene una nueva polémica que incluso ha hecho que uno de los sorprendentes giros del final del tercer episodio de la octava y última temporada se haya comentado menos de lo habitual. El capítulo La larga noche, emitido en la madrugada del domingo al lunes, narra el gran enfrentamiento en Invernalia entre el ejército del Rey de la Noche y los humanos. Y como el título dice, transcurre de noche. El episodio tiene una fotografía muy oscura y eso ha hecho que surjan numerosas quejas de los espectadores. Pero no solo la arriesgada decisión de los productores por apostar por las penumbras ha sido la causante de que los espectadores en sus casas no hayan podido disfrutar del episodio en las condiciones que consideraban mejores.

"Estamos en un impasse tecnológico ahora mismo en el cual estamos pasando al mundo de la resolución en 4K o el HDR, nuevas tecnologías que HBO, Netflix, Amazon, incluso TVE o TV3, están impulsando, pero estamos con un cuello de botella que son las telecomunicaciones, el cuánta información puedes pasar", explica, en conversación telefónica, Pol Turrents, director de fotografía y especialista en cine digital. "Tenemos un punto intermedio complicado, que está entre el arte y la tecnología. Es lógico que en este episodio de Juego de tronos, que habla de la noche, por lo cual tiene que ser oscuro, el director de fotografía [Fabian Wagner] y los directores de la serie hayan querido hacer realmente una sensación de estar en la oscuridad", apunta.

Según Turrents, aparte de la oscuridad del propio capítulo, hay dos elementos externos en su contra: la compresión excesiva del contenido para emitirlo por streaming, y la forma de consumir la serie. "Tecnológicamente no estamos a la altura, y no en España, sino en el mundo, para hacer streaming de cosas tan oscuras", dice. "Uno de los problemas de la compresión es que le faltan gradaciones. Cuando ves un degradado oscuro, entre el gris oscuro, el más ocuro y de golpe al negro, hay un salto abrupto, que son estas rayas que están apareciendo en los cielos, de las que se está quejando la gente que ven en la compresión. Esa parte tecnológica, evidentemente, no es salvable", explica. Turrents apunta también que no es algo solo de Juego de Tronos, sino que es aplicable a todo lo que se ve online o en la TDT.  "La gente lo tiene como asumido y también con este episodio se ha hecho una bola más grande de lo que es, porque las redes sociales a veces se vienen arriba con el tema".

El segundo elemento es el de la forma de consumir. "Si Juego de tronos fuera una película y se hubiese visto en el cine, la gente no se hubiera quejado. Este problema ya estaba en la película de Han Solo, que hubo polémica porque la película es oscura y los cines que tenían la lámpara un poco baja o que la tenían cascada, ahí se veía muy oscuro, pero en los cines que se veía bien, la gente no se quejó", dice el director de fotografía. "Con Juego de tronos lo que nos pasa es que mucha gente ve el episodio en tabletas o teléfonos. Ese tipo de series y películas están pensadas y hechas para que las veas en condiciones cinematográficas en tu casa, que para algo hay pantallas enormes", explica.

"Tanto HBO como los directores han hecho una apuesta por hacer cine, más que por hacer tele consumida en dispositivos. Entiendo que series como Modern Family o Cómo conocí a vuestra madre se puedan consumir en la tablet o en el móvil, pero algo tan grande como Juego de tronos sí que entiendo que se le puede permitir al director de fotografía ese lujo de hacer algo que, visualmente, es un poco más atrevido", opina Turrents.

Recomendaciones para ver 'Juego de Tronos'
Para quien vaya a ver ese episodio por primera vez o quien quiera repetir, Turrents tiene algunas recomendaciones. La primera, apagar todas las luces de la sala donde se está y ver el episodio en la más absoluta oscuridad, "como si fuera una película en un cine". "La gente debería acostumbrarse a eso, no solo con Juego de tronos", apunta.

Otra de las sugerencias es desactivar todos los filtros de la televisión, en especial todo lo que sean realces y saturación y ponerla en modo cine. "Y una recomendación muy expresa", finaliza Turrents, "que, por favor, durante el episodio no miren el móvil, no por despistarse, sino que el ojo se adecúa a un nivel del brillo, que es el de la pantalla de tu tele y a la oscuridad de tu salón, y si enciendes el móvil para mirar Twitter, te deslumbras, tu pupila se cierra y cuando miras a la tele no ves bien".

Turrents defiende el riesgo creativo tomado por HBO. "Como director de fotografía, a mí lo que me pasaría es que lucharía por este tipo de fotografía, porque si miras el making of del episodio ves que está rodado con mucha luz, no está rodada a oscuras, y que es una decisión creativa, con lo cual me gusta que se abra el melón de mejorar la tecnología para que la creatividad no quede supeditada a la tecnología", remata el cineasta. "Seguramente, si este episodio lo vemos dentro de unos meses cuando salga el Blu-ray, lo veremos perfecto, impecable, pero con las tecnologías de transmisión que tenemos ahora, vamos justitos y pasa lo que ha pasado".
La verdad es que, a pesar de poner en tele en modo dinámico (más luminoso) y apagar las luces, se veía como el culo. :P
https://viviendoapesardelacrisis.blogspot.com/2018/12/octava-temporada-final-de-juego-de.html 


Actualización a 02/05/2019: Más:
https://www.wired.co.uk/article/game-of-thrones-too-dark-to-see
TV
Why is Game of Thrones so dark? We asked the cinematographer
-Fans complained that the Battle of Winterfell was too dark to see properly. But cinematographer Fabien Wagner defends the gloom
By Chris Stokel-Walker
Tuesday 30 April 2019

Winter has well and truly arrived in Game of Thrones, with the first half of this week’s episode – which showed the Battle of Winterfell – enshrouded in darkness. Such was the depth of gloom, in fact, that some viewers are up in arms about the darkness of the episode, with many saying they struggled to see anything at all.

But Fabian Wagner, the cinematographer behind the episode, claims the problem lies not with the production team but with viewers’ own television setups. “A lot of the problem is that a lot of people don’t know how to tune their TVs properly,” he says. “A lot of people also unfortunately watch it on small iPads, which in no way can do justice to a show like that anyway.”

Game of Thrones has grown increasingly dark in its presentation since season five, but the latest episode was notably difficult to discern. It’s a stark difference from the crystal clear, backlit episodes of the show’s first series. In part, the change is down to a shift in tone throughout the show: as the subject matter has grown ever darker, so has the way it’s presented.

“The showrunners decided that this had to be a dark episode,” says Wagner. “We’d seen so many battle scenes over the years – to make it truly impactful and to care for the characters, you have to find a unique way of portraying the story.”

Wagner says that the majority of the darkness in the episode is thanks to the night-time shoot, with the rest of the atmosphere produced on-set through lighting choices. “Another look would have been wrong,” he says. “Everything we wanted people to see is there.”

But some fans and others working in the industry think the darkness of the episode in this case went a bit too far. Sophie Barrott, a videographer living in Manchester, says she only managed to make it 15 minutes through. “There's a fine line between creating atmosphere for your audience – who have waited eight seasons for a battle of light versus dark, the dead versus the living – to leaving them completely in the dark, straining their eyes beyond comprehension,” she says. “The lack of light sources, or the over-crushed blacks in the grade of the episode, create a confusing of a mix of frustration and intense imagination.” (Grading refers to post-production colour tweaking.)

Jake Mobbs, a London-based freelance commercial video editor and grader who works for big brands including Siemens, Tesco and Nike, says he understands viewers’ frustrations. “I have found myself bumping up the brightness at home when I’m watching an under-lit film to help pick up every detail and fully understand the story,” he says.

Wagner, however, says it’s not necessarily so important to catch every detail. “Personally I don’t have to always see what’s going on because it’s more about the emotional impact,” he says. He also says that how people choose to watch the programme may affect their experience. “Game of Thrones is a cinematic show and therefore you have to watch it like you’re at a cinema: in a darkened room.,” he says. “If you watch a night scene in a brightly-lit room then that won’t help you see the image properly.”

The programme makers are pushing the boundaries of light and darkness to the limits of their high-end technology, perhaps forgetting that the average viewer has a much less well-equipped screen. Jason Moffat, a colour grader based in London, says the fact that domestic screens are not always perfectly calibrated can also scupper moody images, rendering them unwatchable. “If you're walking a fine line in terms of subtlety in a grade environment and some details are only just visible in the grading suite, it can fail to translate on a consumer setup if the screen is only a little bit off – which, generally speaking, they are,” he says. Wagner says that broadcasters can also complicate matters, with bitrate compression playing havoc with footage deliberately shot in the dark.

Dark images aren’t just a problem with Game of Thrones. The Walking Dead, Teen Wolf and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. have all faced criticism from viewers and critics for being too difficult to discern. David Meadows, a cinematographer and director of photography for commercial projects who is increasingly asked to produce work with the “Game of Thrones look”, says part of the problem is down to advances in camera technology. High-end series are often shot on 8K cameras, which are very sensitive – but if you’re not watching in 8K, you may not get the full level of detail.

For his part, Wagner is taking the criticism in his stride. “With a lot of hype comes a lot of criticism,” he says. “People love to find something to talk about, and so that’s totally fine.”
Lo queremos TOODO, verdad? Rapidez, comodidad y calidad (https://viviendoapesardelacrisis.blogspot.com/2015/04/escuchar-musica-de-calidad-en-calidad.html).

Actualización a 26/10/2019: El artículo es malo pero se salva un poco con los comentarios:
https://elpais.com/cultura/2019/10/25/television/1572012651_620364.html
Cuando los televisores no hacen justicia a las series
-La calidad cinematográfica con la que se ruedan las ficciones choca cada vez más con las limitaciones técnicas de las terminales
Natalia Marcos
Madrid 26 OCT 2019 - 10:58 CEST   

En la Sevilla del siglo XVI, la oscuridad se iluminaba con velas y lámparas de aceite. Y en un mundo de fantasía medieval, es muy complicado ver las batallas que tienen lugar por la noche. La peste y Juego de tronos son dos ejemplos de producciones televisivas que han dado que hablar por su apuesta por la oscuridad en algunas de su secuencias. La serie española estrena el 15 de noviembre su segunda temporada y, en su campaña promocional, Movistar + hace un guiño a las quejas de algunos espectadores con la primera tanda de episodios: "A los que decíais que la primera ni se oía ni se veía: os vais a enterar. Ya veréis".

Los nuevos episodios se apartan un poco de aquella oscuridad gracias a una trama con más acción y aventura y que transcurre en su mayor parte a la luz del día. "El código de la luz cambia, aunque mi principal reto ha sido mantener el concepto visual de la primera y adaptarlo al guion de la segunda, no perder el look tan concreto que teníamos, que es un sello de identidad y que la hace única", explica Andreu Adam Rubiralta, director de fotografía de la segunda temporada de La peste (de la primera fue responsable Pau Esteve).

Rubiralta ve la apuesta por la oscuridad de La peste, o en el capítulo de la batalla de Invernalia de Juego de tronos que despertó la ira de sus seguidores, como "apuestas artísticas". "El espectador es libre de comprarlo o no comprarlo, pero eso no quiere decir que esté mal hecho. Apostamos por la oscuridad como recurso artístico para transmitir una sensación, una época, una psicología de personajes", incide.

En tiempos en los que los espectadores consumen el contenido no solo cuando quieren, sino en el dispositivo y lugar que quieren, desde la oscuridad del salón de casa en televisores de alta definición hasta la pantalla del móvil mientras viaja en metro, el reto para los directores de fotografía es mayor todavía. "Lo que más nos preocupa es trasladar con la mayor fidelidad posible las imágenes que elaboramos en el set a todas las opciones de pantalla que hay en el mercado", dice Migue Amoedo, responsable de la imagen de series como La casa de papel, El embarcadero o Vis a vis.

El también ganador de un Goya en 2016 por La novia trabaja ahora en el etalonaje —los procesos  de trabajo del color, luminosidad y contraste de la imagen— de los capítulos de la cuarta temporada de La casa de papel. Veterano en el mundo de la televisión y el cine, su trabajo se ha ido transformando para introducir más pasos, como la supervisión no solo del resultado de la imagen para la tecnología HDR —siglas de alto rango dinámico, un sistema que permite mayor nivel de contraste—, sino también el control de su transformación a la señal SDR, el formato estándar. "Muchas veces pido que me manden los archivos a la tablet o los veo en mi televisión o en mi teléfono para asegurarme de que se ve bien en el mayor número de dispositivos a mi alcance", cuenta Amoedo. "Como de momento tienen que convivir los dos formatos, no estamos sacándole el máximo partido al HDR, preservamos la calidad del formato menor, el estándar", añade.

También hay factores tecnológicos que se escapan de las manos de los responsables de las series. "Las plataformas tienen que emitir la señal comprimida. Eso supone otro problema para nosotros. Es como si intentáramos meter un balón de baloncesto por una tubería por la que no pasa. Son factores que tenemos en cuenta, pero a veces luchar contra eso es prácticamente imposible", dice Rubiralta. "Pero esto ya pasaba cuando el cine era en celuloide, estás sujeto a que el proyector de la sala esté bien, que la lámpara esté bien, para que se vea como lo has dejado", añade.

Y, como siempre, también entra en juego el factor humano. "Depende de lo cuidadoso que quiera ser el espectador con lo que está viendo. Yo Juego de tronos no me la pondría en el metro, por ejemplo, pero eso depende de cada uno", dice Rubiralta. Amoedo defiende que es necesario una tarea didáctica con los espectadores en este sentido. "Confío en los espectadores, y la gente sabe que sus televisores tienen unos menús y solo hay que meterse, investigar y ajustar tu tele con la mayor fiabilidad posible". Él mismo colabora con la marca de aparatos tecnológicos Panasonic llevando a cabo esa labor. "Creo que las grandes pantallas son los cines del futuro. Es interesante guiar a los fabricantes y orientarlos en preservar la calidad de nuestro trabajo. Y, por otro lado, explicar y decirle a la gente que hay un montón de posibilidades en su mando a distancia", añade.

Mientras, Amoedo apuesta por seguir retando a la tecnología todo lo posible defendiendo la libertad a la hora de grabar. "No estar pendiente de los diferentes sistemas de reproducción que habrá después, no coartar el acto de cinematografiar de forma libre. Animo a los directores y productores a que apuesten por iluminar, fotografiar y crear sensaciones de oscuridad. No hay problema en ello. No hay que tener miedo a la oscuridad, la sombra o la penumbra. Lo que queremos es captar el interés del espectador y crear emociones, no podemos traicionar el lenguaje de la cinematografía", remata.
Comentario
-1:
"Como de momento tienen que convivir los dos formatos, no estamos sacándole el máximo partido al HDR, preservamos la calidad del formato menor, el estándar"

Precisamente es lo contrario. Hoy, la tecnología nos permite tener instancias óptimas y perfectas para cada una de las diferentes peticiones que pudieran atacar el servidor.

Se debe atender a todas y cada una de ellas, lo que significaría que respetas a todos tus posibles clientes. Ya si realizas adaptaciones u optimizaciones específicas en función de cada particularidad técnica de las 'versiones' o son conversiones a capón pues tú mismo.

Acaso si usamos la pista stereo o las multicanal de un DVD o Blu ray estamos usando el mismo recurso del formato? Hay una diferencia de Gigabytes entre lo uno y lo otro. Pero están ahí disponiubles y perfectos para que el usuario solicite usar el que quiere durante la reprodución.

No se realiza en el televisor. Se hace en el REPRODUCTOR, que a efectos hoy es el que nos emite el stream, vía petición.

No veo a los usuarios recibiendo streams de internet de 100 gbps (POR USUARIO). Y la culpa no es del televisor.
-2:
Yo creo que Natalia no se entera. Es el colmo que nos cuenten que desde que pasamos de la señal analógica a la TDT (la que sea) que la culpa de que veamos el esperpento que vemos cuando usamos el sintonizador en lugar de cualquier puerto de I/O de nuestros televisores es 'del televisor'.

La culpa es exclusivamente del que genera (convierte, comprime y arruina) la señal que transmite desde la fabulosa fuente hasta nuestras casas. Habiéndola convertido en una auténtica basura.

Según ella no debe tener ninguna culpa el nº de canales, y por tanto la calidad del stream, de cada uno de ellos que apelotonan en el canuto, que es el que es. Meta la mitad, y tal vez cada canal podrá usar un bitrate mucho mejor, la compresión no será tan elevada y el framerate el adecuado, este último sobre todo en las plataformas que emiten contenidos por suscripción por internet (qué importa la resolución, si activamos o no el contraste dinámico, el hdr+, etc... si luego tenemos, EN LA SEÑAL, unos miserables 10/15 fotogramas por segundo. ¿es una broma?)

la señal que nos estaban regalando, o cobrando, es la culpable.
Poseso.

Actualización a 29/10/2019: Más cosas:
https://viviendoapesardelacrisis.blogspot.com/2019/10/consumo-rapido-y-absurdo-de-cultura.html 

Actualización a 31/03/2020: Estos días está todo el mundo cagándose en TOODO porque se ha bajado la calidad del streaming en Europa por el Coronavirus.
A mí me la pela. :P

Actualización a 31/03/2020: Sobre la música:
https://retina.elpais.com/retina/2020/05/21/innovacion/1590054025_030472.html 


Y, como siempre, lo mejor es tirar de las fuentes:
https://www.counterpointresearch.com/global-online-music-streaming-grew-2019/ 
 

Actualización a 31/10/2020: Jooder, no dejo de aprender! Sobre Master Quality Authenticated (MQA):

https://viviendoapesardelacrisis.blogspot.com/2015/04/escuchar-musica-de-calidad-en-calidad.html 

https://www.mqa.co.uk/newsroom/qa/what-is-mqa

MQA is the breakthrough audio technology that enables music fans to stream the original master recording into their home, car or on their mobile. Working together with the music industry and global hi-fi brands, MQA audio powers the world’s best-sounding music services, videos and consumer devices.

https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Master_Quality_Authenticated 

Master Quality Authenticated (MQA) es una tecnología que usa compresión sin pérdida en formato FLAC (lossless)​, creado para archivos de alta fidelidad, audio digital, streaming y descarga de archivos.​ El fin del MQA es reproducir la música fielmente como fue grabada en el estudio, en otras palabras, la máxima resolución posible. Fue lanzado en 2014 por Meridian Audio, actualmente es propiedad de MQA Ltd, que fue fundada por Bob Stuart, co-foundador de Meridian Audio.

Vaya!

https://www.linn.co.uk/blog/mqa-is-bad-for-music 

MQA is Bad For Music. Here's Why.
A new audio format which allows internet streaming of music at studio quality, seemingly free from copy-protection nasties, and with a clear way for you to know you have bought the real-deal. Seems like the perfect solution, right? Not so fast.

En fin...

Actualización a 29/11/2020: Qué cómodo y bonito es todo, verdad?!? Sí, menos para el que lo paga CARO:

https://www.unionofmusicians.org/justice-at-spotify 


Spotify is the most dominant platform on the music streaming market. The company behind the streaming platform continues to accrue value, yet music workers everywhere see little more than pennies in compensation for the work they make.

With the entire live music ecosystem in jeopardy due to the coronavirus pandemic, music workers are more reliant on streaming income than ever. We are calling on Spotify to deliver increased royalty payments, transparency in their practices, and to stop fighting artists.

https://www.unionofmusicians.org/justice-at-spotify-demands 

Our Demands:

Music workers create all of the enormous wealth Spotify accumulates for its CEO, its investors, and the major labels. But we artists continue to be underpaid, misled, and otherwise exploited by the company. As Spotify’s valuation soars, we have seen no increase in our streaming payments. The company’s closed-door contracts and payola schemes ensure that only musicians already on top with extensive resources can succeed on the platform.  As COVID 19 economically devastates music workers everywhere, it’s even clearer that Spotify’s existing model is counter to the needs of the vast majority of artists.


Enough is enough. We as music workers demand the following changes to Spotify:

1) Pay Us

a. Pay all artists at least one cent per song stream (or the equivalent in local currency)

Spotify makes enormous profit across its platform via user fees, capital investment, data collection, and more. The company must begin paying artists/rights-holders at minimum one cent per stream. Many claim that such wages are not compatible with Spotify’s current economic system. Our demand is that this model be adjusted so that artists can be paid fairly. If Spotify's model can’t pay artists fairly, it shouldn’t exist.

b. Adopt a user-centric payment model

Spotify currently pays artists using a “pro-rata” model, in which all revenue is pooled, then distributed to artists according to a complex scheme. The pro-rata model means that as artists on the top of the pyramid accumulate a greater percentage of streams, all other artists receive increasingly tiny payments. This model puts artists in competition with each other. We demand the adoption of a “user centric” model which pays artists directly according to the number of streams they receive.

2) Be Transparent

a. Make all closed-door contracts public

Spotify intentionally operates in secrecy. The platform signs closed-door contracts with record labels, distributors, and management companies for payments, playlist placements, and more. We demand that these contracts be open and publicly disclosed.

b. Show us where your money comes from

Artists deserve to know how a platform built on their work is operating. Spotify does not just accumulate wealth through user subscriptions, but through advertising, capital investment, data collection, and more. Open the books and declare all sources of income.

c. Reveal existing payola, then end it altogether

Spotify encourages labels and management companies to pay for plays on the platform. In many cases, the artists don’t even know this is happening. The practice amounts to payola, and it is unacceptable and must be stopped. Spotify should not be in the businesses of selling artists access to their own fanbase. Spotify must publicly reveal where existing payola is occurring, and then stop systems of paid access that make an already unequal platform even more imbalanced.

d. Credit all labor in recordings

Spotify should honor all the labor involved in making recordings. We demand full credits listed for every work on Spotify, on both desktop and mobile platforms, and that Spotify enable search by every name so that every musician, producer, audio engineer, mastering engineer and all others involved in the work of recordings are recognized for their labor.

3) Stop Fighting Artists

a. End legal battles intended to further impoverish artists

Spotify continues to fight in court to lower royalty rates for songwriters. We demand that Spotify ends these battles, and pledges not to fight artists, songwriters, and other music workers in the future. Spotify should be fighting for the artists who built it, instead of further undercutting our economic well-being.

Sigamos creando monopolios por nuestra comodidad y borreguismo.


Actualización a 18/05/2021: Un poquito...

https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2021/05/apple-music-announces-spatial-audio-and-lossless-audio/ 

https://www.amazon.com/b?ie=UTF8&node=14070322011 

Late to the party! :P

 

Actualización a 27/01/2022: Y no sólo:

https://neilyoungarchives.com/news/1/article?id=Spotify-In-The-Name-Of-Truth 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_Spotify 

https://spotifyopenletter.wordpress.com/2022/01/10/an-open-letter-to-spotify/ 

 

Actualización a 03/03/2022: Cojonudo:

https://blog.bandcamp.com/2022/03/02/bandcamp-is-joining-epic/ 

https://www.epicgames.com/site/en-US/news/bandcamp-joining-epic-games-to-support-fair-open-platforms-for-artists-and-fans 

En fin... A ver.

Actualización a 11/03/2022: Cojonudo! Ahora se mete TikTok:

https://newsroom.tiktok.com/en-us/sound-on-the-new-platform-for-tiktok-music-marketing-and-global-track-distribution 

https://www.soundon.global/ 

Actualización a 09/09/2022: Putos...

https://forum.metal-archives.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=124140 

https://viviendoapesardelacrisis.blogspot.com/2020/01/moral-digo-metal-archives.html 

...IDIOTAS.

Actualización a 13/09/2022: Ejem...

https://blog.youtube/creator-and-artist-stories/6-billion-paid-to-the-music-industry-in-12-months/

Ejem...

Actualización a 27/09/2022: Sobre Spotify:

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2022/sep/27/theres-endless-choice-but-youre-not-listening-fans-quitting-spotify-to-save-their-love-of-music 

‘There’s endless choice, but you’re not listening’: fans quitting Spotify to save their love of music
-Former streaming service subscribers on why they have ditched mod cons for MP3s, CDs and other DIY music formats
Liz Pelly
Tue 27 Sep 2022 08.00 BST

Meg Lethem was working at her bakery job one morning in Boston when she had an epiphany. Tasked with choosing the day’s soundtrack, she opened Spotify, then flicked and flicked, endlessly searching for something to play. Nothing was perfect for the moment. She looked some more, through playlist after playlist. An uncomfortably familiar loop, it made her realise: she hated how music was being used in her life. “That was the problem,” she says. “Using music, rather than having it be its own experience … What kind of music am I going to use to set a mood for the day? What am I going to use to enjoy my walk? I started not really liking what that meant.”

It wasn’t just passive listening, but a utilitarian approach to music that felt like a creation of the streaming environment. “I decided that having music be this tool to [create] an experience instead of an experience itself was not something I was into,” she reflects. So she cut off her Spotify service, and later, Apple Music too, to focus on making her listening more “home-based” and less of a background experience.

Such reckonings have become increasingly commonplace in recent years, as dedicated music listeners continue to grapple with the unethical economics of streaming companies, and feel the effects of engagement-obsessed, habit-forming business models on their own listening and discovery habits. In the process, they are seeking alternatives.

“With streaming, things were starting to become quite throwaway and disposable,” says Finlay Shakespeare. A Bristol-based musician and audio engineer, Shakespeare recently deleted his streaming accounts and bought a used iPod on eBay for £40. With streaming, he says: “If I didn’t gel with an album or an artist’s work at first, I tended not to go back to it.” But he realised that a lot of his all-time favourite albums were ones that grew on him over time. “Streaming was actually contributing to some degree of dismissal of new music.” Even with digital downloads, he tended to give music more time and attention.

Jared Samuel Elioseff, a multi-instrumentalist who records as Invisible Familiars and owns a studio in Cambridge, New York, also felt the streaming environment was generally hindering his musical curiosity: “I’ve been Spotify-less for two years now. My musical experiences definitely feel more dedicated and focused. It’s not as convenient. I’ll reluctantly admit that I listen to less music. Although on Spotify, I wasn’t necessarily listening to stuff. I was checking out the first 15 seconds and hitting skip. Now, I have to work for it and I like that. I can use the internet as a search tool but I’m not using it as a means to listen. I really have to seek things out and research.

“Streaming makes the listening experience much more passive,” he continues. “The word ‘streaming’ is one of those things that’s gradually assimilated into everyone’s vocabulary. Before there was streaming music, what else was streaming? This idea that you can just turn on a faucet, and out comes music. It’s something that leaves everyone to take it for granted.”

Conversations around how digital marketplaces shape listening have long focused on the unbundling of the album. For some, though, this has felt distinctly tied to streaming. Nick Krawczeniuk, a music fan and network engineer who recently moved away from streaming, felt his listening habits were being particular affected by Spotify’s “liked songs” playlist: “I found myself selecting more and more just one-off songs from an artist, whereas before I’d been inclined to save a whole album.”

And Milesisbae, a 23-year-old hip-hop artist from Richmond, Virginia, who recently cancelled all streaming subscriptions after learning how little musicians were compensated, noted something similar: “I will listen to one song 100 times in a row, but I won’t give the rest of the album a chance. Before I used streaming services, I would listen to the whole thing.”

Miles says he increasingly sees artists selling CDs and downloads at shows; indeed, for some who have deleted Spotify and Apple Music accounts, leaving streaming has meant a big-picture reimagination of their relationship to MP3s. For Shakespeare, downloads are now his primary mode of consumption: he has replaced his iPod’s hard drive with a micro SD card dock to increase capacity, and loaded it with Bandcamp purchases and ripped CDs.

For Krawczeniuk, the move away from Spotify after eight years was partly inspired by the realisation that by using open source software, a home server and a VPN on his phone, he could build something similar himself. He is now using a project called Navidrome to create a self-hosted streaming library that he can stream from any location, across various devices. “It’s a little box that sits on my desk, plugged into my router,” he explains. The server holds all his music, including Bandcamp purchases and ripped CDs: “It’s a simple music library.” He sees moving away from Big Streaming as connected to a broader movement towards small-scale tech projects and open-source services that are not resource- or energy-intensive.

Nearly everyone interviewed for this piece pointed out the need for systemic change across the music industry, from rethinking how royalties are paid by streaming services to expanding public funding for artists. Still, leaving streaming has led to a more meaningful daily experience of music.

Jeff Tobias, a musician and composer who finally pulled the plug on Spotify for good in early 2022 as the company was making headlines for its deal with podcaster Joe Rogan, has an approach to streamless listening that’s uncomplicated: records, cassettes, Bandcamp, Mixcloud. When it comes to discovery, recommendations come from friends, Bandcamp editorial, and stuff he comes across at his job working at a local record shop. “It’s almost a pre-internet style relationship with music,” he says. “I am kind of going back to thinking, ‘Oh I wonder what that album sounds like’ until I really take it upon myself to actually seek it out.”

“I like music because it’s a communal artistic practice,” he adds. “And anything that I can do that allows me to listen to music in a way that connects me with either the artists or my friends, that’s what I want to be involved with. Spotify and streaming in general just has absolutely no connection with that relationship at all.”

Wendy Eisenberg, a musician and teacher who recently deleted their account with Napster Music (formerly called Rhapsody), put it this way: “The one thing I’ve noticed since divesting is that music sounds better to me because I’ve put in the work to either locate it on a hard drive or download it from a friend’s Bandcamp or something. And every time I listen to it, even if it’s just on the way to work, I can hear the spiritual irreverence of that choice. And so it doesn’t feel like I am just receiving music from some distant tastemaker. But it seems like I have some relationship to the music, of ritual, which is where I come to it as a practising musician.

“Taking the extra step to load it on to my phone, or the extra step to flip over the tape, or put the CD on in the car, it feels like something that I’m doing, rather than something I’m receiving,” they continue. “And that sense of agency makes me a more dedicated and involved listener than the kind of passive listening-without-listening that streaming was making me do.”

Lethem reported something similar: she now listens mostly to records, Bandcamp downloads, and a little radio she put in her kitchen. “The choices are very limited. But it’s actually freeing. [With streaming] there’s endless accessibility, but you’re not really listening to anything. At least that’s what it started feeling like to me. I’m experiencing so much music, but am I really listening to any of it?”

DIY discovery: Six ways to find new music …

Bandcamp
Online music store Bandcamp is a key revenue driver for many artists, taking a scant cut of sales compared with streaming services. For fans and listeners, the Bandcamp Daily blog is a treasure trove of independent gems and curios, and a few hours spent trawling other users’ profiles or the site’s Discover function is always sure to yield a new favourite or two.

The human algorithm
A great way to discover new music can oftentimes be just dropping a message in your favourite group chat: “What’s everyone been listening to lately?” Even if your mates have the exact same taste as you, there’s bound to be some kind of variance, and those small differences are often where you’ll pick up the kind of track that an algorithm could never show you.

Your local record store
There are few better ways to find new music than simply going down to your local record store, telling the staff member at the counter what you’re into, and asking what they recommend. If you’re shy, don’t worry: many shops feature a staff picks section to trawl through.

Online radio
It’s easy to be paralysed by the repetitive cycles of streaming services. Online radio stations such as NTS, Worldwide FM, The Lot and Hope St Radio offer tailored, extraordinarily niche, and often mindblowingly good radio shows. Heavy hitters such as NTS have multiple channels and deep archives; newer, more DIY operations might only have a patchy, ultra-lo-fi stream and no tracklists. Either way, it’s a great way to hear something you have never heard before.

Artist interviews
Musicians can often provide the best recommendations, and even if you don’t have most pop stars on speed dial, interviews are generally the next best thing. A Björk profile, for example, may lead you to wild techno experimentalists Sideproject, while a podcast chat between Charli XCX and Rina Sawayama could lead you to discover your new favourite diva.

YouTube algorithm
If Spotify’s algorithm is disarmingly tailored, YouTube’s is shockingly loose. You almost never know what’s going to come next when you are listening to music on YouTube (which many people, especially among Gen Z, use as their sole streaming service). Sometimes, it will be another song by the same artist, at other times, it will be something extraordinarily unlikely, such as this 1994 performance of Fade Into You that, for about a year, was ubiquitous in many people’s algorithms. Either way, it’s a journey. Shaad D’Souza.

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2022/sep/26/has-streaming-made-it-harder-to-discover-new-music-spotify-tiktok 

Has streaming made it harder to discover new music?
-Services such as Spotify and Apple Music give us access to the entire history of popular songs. But has that access made us lazy listeners? And could TikTok or TV really help us rediscover our passion for discovery?
Alexis Petridis
Mon 26 Sep 2022 13.03 BST

Earlier this year, Kate Bush’s Running Up That Hill unexpectedly became the most popular song in the world. After it was used on the soundtrack of the Netflix sci-fi series Stranger Things, the streaming figures for Bush’s 1985 single rocketed by 9,900% in the US alone. Something similar was happening wherever Stranger Things was available: by 18 June, three weeks after season four of Stranger Things premiered, Running Up That Hill was No 1 on Billboard’s Global 200 chart, which, as its name suggests, collects sales and streaming data from 200-plus countries.

It became a big news story, big enough that Bush – no one’s idea of an artist intent on hogging the media spotlight – was impelled to issue a couple of statements and give a rare interview. That was partly because it was an extraordinary state of affairs: the upper reaches of the Global 200 are usually the sole province of what you might call the usual suspects – BTS, Bad Bunny, Adele, Drake et al – and not a world that plays host to tracks from critically acclaimed 37-year-old art-rock concept albums. And it was partly because the unexpected success of Running Up That Hill seemed to say something about how we discover and consume music in 2022.

Actualización a 17/10/2022: Vuelta de los CDs:

https://www.billboard.com/pro/cd-sales-up-2021-adele-bts-taylor-swift/ 

Actualización a 14/02/2023: A raíz de que Netflix haya limitado el compartir las cuentas:

https://help.netflix.com/en/node/123277/us


https://about.netflix.com/en/news/an-update-on-sharing

Jo, jo, jo!!!

Actualización a 05/03/2023: Ja, ja, ja!!!

https://elpais.com/television/2023-03-05/streaming-la-mula-pirata-se-despereza.html 

Idiotas.

Actualización a 22/04/2023: Ayer me contaron en el curro lo de las "sugerencias" de Spotify. FLIPO.

Actualización a 06/05/2023: Por no hablar de lo que sacan los músicos, claro:

https://elpais.com/ideas/2023-04-28/asi-estrangulan-las-big-tech-a-los-creadores-culturales.html 

Actualización a 23/06/2023: HiFi en Spotify:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-06-20/spotify-plans-new-premium-tier-expected-to-include-hifi-audio#xj4y7vzkg 

P.D: Calidad:

https://viviendoapesardelacrisis.blogspot.com/2015/04/escuchar-musica-de-calidad-en-calidad.html 

Actualización a 06/07/2023: Streaming?

https://forum.metal-archives.com/viewtopic.php?p=3106764#p3106764 

No, gracias.

P.D: IDIOTAS.

https://viviendoapesardelacrisis.blogspot.com/2020/01/moral-digo-metal-archives.html 

Actualización a 20/07/2023: Que no!

https://forum.metal-archives.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=139531 

Actualización a 31/07/2023: Que le jodan a Spotify:

https://forum.metal-archives.com/viewtopic.php?p=3084027#p3084027 

Actualización a 29/09/2023: Songtradr compra Bandcamp a Epic Games:

https://www.songtradr.com/blog/posts/songtradr-bandcamp-acquisition 

Songtradr acquires Bandcamp

Songtradr, a music licensing platform and marketplace company supporting artists, labels and publishers, and Epic Games, a leading interactive entertainment company and provider of 3D engine technology, announced today that Songtradr is acquiring Bandcamp. Songtradr will continue to operate Bandcamp as a marketplace and music community with an artist-first revenue share.
Bandcamp is an online music store and community with over 5M artists and labels where fans can discover, connect with, and directly support the artists they love. This acquisition will help Bandcamp continue to grow within a music-first company and enable Songtradr to expand its capabilities to support the artist community.

Songtradr will also offer Bandcamp artists the ability and choice to have their music licensed to all forms of media including content creators, game and app developers and brands. This will enable artists to continue to own and control their music rights, and increase their earning capacity from Songtradr’s global licensing network.

Epic is exploring ways to partner with Songtradr to build an inventory of music where artists can opt in to have their music licensed for use in Epic’s ecosystem. Epic will continue to collaborate with Bandcamp on projects like Fortnite Radio and is investing in Songtradr to support Bandcamp’s successful integration into Songtradr.

Actualización a 13/10/2023: A ver...

https://elpais.com/television/2023-10-12/de-la-imagen-6k-y-el-sonido-dtsx-al-movil-con-auriculares-el-reto-del-streaming-para-democratizar-su-calidad-tecnica.html 

Actualización a 17/10/2023: COJONUDO:

https://www.theverge.com/2023/10/16/23919551/bandcamp-layoffs-epic-songtradr 

About half of Bandcamp employees have been laid off - Affected employees are reporting that 50 percent of staff from the indie music platform were not extended offers from Songtradr, the company that purchased Bandcamp from Epic Games.

https://twitter.com/modernistwitch/status/1713962311579234428 

https://twitter.com/bandcampunited 

JOSDEPUTA.

Actualización a 18/10/2023: Tengo que leerme BIEN ésto...

https://pitchfork.com/thepitch/is-bandcamp-as-we-know-it-over/ 

...y PUEDE que descargarme TOODO lo que les he comprado (aprovechando que estoy grabando DVDs con FLACs).

Actualización a 19/10/2023: No me fío del Bandcamp y estoy bajando todo:

Bueno, CASI todo (https://viviendoapesardelacrisis.blogspot.com/2021/07/cancel-culture-o-cultura-de-la.html):


Bajado:

Actualización a 04/03/2024: Pero que PUTO ASCO:

https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_24_1161 

Commission fines Apple over €1.8 billion over abusive App store rules for music streaming providers

The European Commission has fined Apple over €1.8 billion for abusing its dominant position on the market for the distribution of music streaming apps to iPhone and iPad users (‘iOS users') through its App Store. In particular, the Commission found that Apple applied restrictions on app developers preventing them from informing iOS users about alternative and cheaper music subscription services available outside of the app (‘anti-steering provisions'). This is illegal under EU antitrust rules.

https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/speech_24_1309 

Actualización a 05/06/2024: Putos...

https://forum.metal-archives.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=142879 

...IDIOTAS.


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