I bought two relatively niche music CDs recently (Paw 'Death To Traitors' and Earth 'The Bees Made Honey In The Lion's Skull'), and it made me realise that I very much prefer the "olden days" when people actually bought and listened to physical media (ie CDs and vinyl), as opposed to now where people subscribe and listen to streaming services.
In the olden days, an artist would actually be compensated for their work. And because the listener had invested so much more time and effort in gaining access to the music, they would value it more and have a far healthier relationship towards the medium and message. Now, everything is so disposable. Musicians also don't get paid anywhere near as much as what they used to.
Sure, streaming is a great marketing tool, but I would argue that this is what singles and music videos can be used for.
Could an underground musician/ band still get some degree of success by eschewing digital streaming services, and by releasing their music only on CD / vinyl?
Maybe a musician could still get marketing exposure by releasing their music videos on YouTube, and also licensing their music out to adverts and movies.
And if an underground musician still wants to use a streaming service, then maybe they coul...