Guidelines for a life without music streaming
2026 is starting with a new experiment: ditching music streaming.
2026 is starting with a new experiment: ditching music streaming.
My TIDAL subscription has been cancelled.
I’ll no longer drink from that well of infinite music for a low fixed monthly fee.
But what about if a friend sends a song? Or if I want to check something out? And am I really going to only play the music I’ve stored on my device?
I’m not going to be an extremist. Here are my guidelines:
I will primarily listen to music I own.
I may listen to owned music directly from my devices or stream it via the Bandcamp app or a connected hard drive (i.e., an NAS).
I’ll still check out music that friends send me via ad-supported tiers of streaming services or YouTube.
Streaming music on sites like Bandcamp or YouTube while I’m exploring new releases is fine.
If I want to listen to something repeatedly, I should consider purchasing it and adding it to my collection.
If music is not good enough to warrant spending money on it and integrating it into my collection, I should withdraw my attention from it.
2-5% of my disposable income will go towards building my collection.
Online radio stations and DJ sets are fine as long as there is intention in the curation.
I will not replace music streaming with piracy.
Now to practicalities.
I’ve been sorting through my music library to decide what I want in my collection and what stays out. That means categorise the music I own as follows:
Rotation: music I want to have more immediate access to, anywhere, anytime.
Library: the music I want to come back to. Some music, I only listen to once a year, or even less. I still love it, value it, but it doesn’t need to be at my fingertips when I’m trying to decide what to listen to.
Archive: everything I own. When I used to DJ, I’d plunder SoundCloud and Bandcamp for anything relevant I could get my hands on. I’d then try out the tunes while practising to see how I really feel about them. The result: lots of music I’m not that hot on. I might come back to it one day, but it has no purpose in my life anymore. A bit like that offbeat coat you bought on a whim, and are keeping around for years, because an odd-themed costume party might thrust the garment into relevance.
When I actually purchase a NAS, the Rotation and Library ones might merge.
What I’ve already noticed is this:
Albums are by far my favourite format for this. It’s a major pain to organise lots of 2-track single releases or 4-track EPs. And my mind will rarely go: “hey, let’s listen to this single.” I think the listening share of artists who don’t release albums will drop significantly over the coming months.
I don’t know how long I’ll run this experiment.
Could be a few months, could be a year, could be the rest of my life.
For now, I’m just excited reunite with old favourites, both in terms of software (Winamp <3) and music.
Happy 2026, everyone!
I prepared for this challenge by interviewing music writer and curator Stephan Kunze of zensounds, who left streaming behind in 2024. You can read the interview here:
ᕱᕱ For your ears ᕱᕱ
Written while exploring the Ethio-jazz inspired sounds of The Sorcerers, whose Other Worlds And Habitats album has a marked retrofuturistic energy to it.
Happy New Year and LOVE The Sorcerers!
I've been running this experiment for one and a half years now, and so far it's been a net positive decision. It might not work as well for people who mostly listen to mainstream artists that release exclusively on major record labels. But as I listen to 95% independent releases, that Bandcamp approach serves me really well.