I’ve set a 2026 goal to only listen to music I own. I have no ambivalence about streaming as such but I find myself in a kind of rotating glut of music to listen to. It’s the same problem one faces in the current state of all internet and platforms, which is that there’s always something interesting or recommended just up ahead and so recursive or deeper listening is left behind. I’ve come to find this rather depressing, frankly, always kind of lurching ahead to the next album without spending adequate time with the current one. What constitutes “adequate time” varies, of course, but it has felt for many years now as though I’m subjecting myself to as much or more consuming than listening and it’s not as satisfying as it once might have been.

Another point is artist remuneration. Conversations on this topic has been going in circles for over a decade now and I have little to add except to say that owning music does not preclude subscribing to streaming platforms. It simply acknowledges that artists should be paid for their work [^1]. Further, it sets some parameters on what I listen to and assigns value to the music in question. It’s putting my money where my mouth is, or in this case, where my ears are, and in a culture increasingly defined by corporate interest and manipulation, I think it’s a good idea to exercise one’s principles in all areas of one’s life, including one’s so-called “media diet.”