Great post Steven! This time of year my social feeds start to fill up with Spotify Unwrapped, a marketing masterstroke where we do the advertising for them.
But here’s a thought: has having infinite music made it all feel a bit… valueless?
I used to think streaming was magic. Now I’m not so sure.
When everything is available all the time, nothing feels special.
I love my records. My CDs. My shelves.
I remember where I bought them, when, and who I was at the time.
Streaming doesn’t give you that.
And while we skim through playlists, artists earn £0.003 a stream… and now tracks under 1,000 plays a year get paid nothing.
Most musicians I know don’t stand a chance.
And now there’s AI-generated “music”, designed for playlists, not people.
No stories, no craft, no humanity.
Just frictionless background noise, pushing real musicians even further down the algorithm.
Great post, Steven. I couldn’t agree with you more. Three vinyl albums that I bought in 2025 and listen to constantly are Porcupine Tree’s In Absentia, Deadwing and Fear of a Blank Planet. Admittedly, I do listen to a lot of Spotify, as well (incidentally, PT was my second most listened to artist and Fear of a Blank Planet was my most listened to track in 2025). However, I try to buy on vinyl the albums I like the most. I plan to add more PT and SW to my vinyl collection in 2026!
Great list, Steven––only 3 or 4 that I know. I look forward to working my way through the rest. I mostly use streaming to explore before I buy, and then I use Qobuz, not Spotify. Qobuz pays its artists much better (still not well, admittedly) and serves up only uncompressed files. Sounds great and is much better organized for exploring new music!
Most of my listening is from physical formats, which still gives me much greater pleasure.
I did buy your blu-ray and attended the Montreal show. Amazing! And I also bought close to 100 albums this year… as usual! Physical albums always have a special place in my heart!
Steven, I recently got a very decent turntable and receiver from my brother who has a massive album collection, MAYBE even rivaling yours even though I have admittedly not seen it. I just need some nice speakers. I have been partial to Bose speakers forever and won’t even consider a car that does not have a premium sound system with Bose speakers. But maybe there are others that are better for a surround sound home setup. Any and all suggestions are welcome. On vinyl, my next album will be be Robin Trower’s Bridge of Sighs, followed by your entire collection (I only have 4 as of now) and a very long list of albums mostly from my youth like Genesis, PF and Yes, my favorites at the time (and still are among my favorites). On albums, if there are any FNM or hard-core Pattonites here, his latest collaboration, although very unexpected, is pretty great. It came as a huge surprise to many I’m sure(😂) because I thought he’d said something about doing something with John Zorn again. Anyway, the other group is a folk band, The Avett Brothers. The album was sort of a bicoastal creation. It is excellent and has a beautiful cover. It’s simply called AVTT/PTTN and I have tickets for 2 shows in April. I have a front row seat at one of them because it will just be me going which is strategic. If you are going solo to a show and buying only one ticket, there’s an excellent chance of getting a much better seat than if you were buying 2 or more. The reason, obviously, is because you’ll be “filling a hole” in a row that has just one empty seat. This is what I did at The Overview show at the Tabernacle. I got a front row seat pretty much dead center to the stage. I got some excellent photos from the show which I couldn’t have been more impressed with!! I’m always looking for new stuff to listen to so thanks for the recommendations. Lately, I’ve been listening to The Strokes and have bought their best 4 albums. So keep the suggestions coming. I’ll check out some songs/ albums on Apple Music. Cheers!!
Great post Steven. Seeing Riddles of the Sphinx here genuinely surprised me. I somehow missed this piece of Ratledge’s work, and now I’m fascinated by it. It feels like a hidden corridor branching off from the Soft Machine universe. More inward, almost like thinking in sound. Thank you for pointing us toward it, this kind of unexpected discovery is exactly why lists like this matter.
There are many perspectives. Album is great, no doubt. In the golden 70's they arrived in Brazil with a year of delay and the imported ones were so much expensive. I 've bought usually 3 or 4 in a year.
So, streaming is very democratic and I can listen stuff that I only could do chez some friends.
But the compression is a problem and is altering the music. Drums that was to be in the back, suddenly stomped. This days, listenning to The Lamb on Spotify, the guitar came to front, corrupting the conception of the original. Not everything is supposed to be heard with the same emphasys ang the work of original engineers is authoral and deserves respect.
Great list, I only know the Tom Waits record. Talking about spotify: My wife has cancelt the subscription because of the tuny share. Only 4-5 plays makes about a cent. We have apple music, which pays a cent/penny per stream so 4-5 times more.
But we both buy physical media like CDs or BluRay audio. I really enjoy listening to your Atmos mix of Franky goes to Hollywood’s “Welcome to the Pleasuredom“ which came into our house before Christmas. I had so many memories in my mind from the time of its first release.
Thank you very much.
And last but not least:
I really like you biography by Robert M. Harvey , I got it for Christmas from my wife.
Again my question: When do you sleep? I don‘t know any artist with a productive output like you, awesome 😀
You are preaching to the converted here Steven. The music album is the greatest art form (my opinion). 2025 has been an exceptional year for new music with my top 3, Amanda Shires, Nobody’s Girl, Paul Weller, Find Eldorada and Lucas Nelson American Romance. Re issued and re discovered Richard Hawley, Cole’s Corner and Shack, here’s Tom with the weather (Michael Head has to be the best songwriter so few people have heard of).
Awesome! Yes, I already own a bit of PT/SW vinyl, along with a lot of other stuff, both in the prog genre as well as the typical rock and jazz genres. Incidentally I was recently in the US at Guitar Center (don't really like the store, but looking for a specific Martin guitar for my wife) and I was wearing a Deadwing t-shirt. Honestly, nobody comments on this shirt ever! Anyway, a young guy comes up to ask if I needed any help, immediately recognizes my T-shirt and just raved about it, and about PT. We talked quite awhile because he had never seen PT live and I told him how much he' needs to see either SW or PT. Anyway, we're done talking and another guy who works there comes up to me and starts talking to me about the shirt and how much he loves PT Both of these guys were in their late 20s, early 30s. 5 minutes later, the manager walks past me, on a mission, looks at me and doesn't register anything, but as he passes me he looks back and says "great band". I was surprised that in San Bernardino, there were people who recognized PT. And happy to see it.
Steven, I don't see things in the same way as you. I live in Brazil, a third-world country. I basically have money to spend on vinyls. Even when you played in Brazil, I couldn't go to the concert since I didn't have the money to do so. But it was a reason for me not share your music with friends. I have been listening to you since "Fear of a Blank Planet". 2007. This year, IDK for how many people I recommended you to. And still, who deserves a toast is a first-class world citizen that have money to buy your physical records? Music is a celebration, not a division or categorization of people.
Great post Steven! This time of year my social feeds start to fill up with Spotify Unwrapped, a marketing masterstroke where we do the advertising for them.
But here’s a thought: has having infinite music made it all feel a bit… valueless?
I used to think streaming was magic. Now I’m not so sure.
When everything is available all the time, nothing feels special.
I love my records. My CDs. My shelves.
I remember where I bought them, when, and who I was at the time.
Streaming doesn’t give you that.
And while we skim through playlists, artists earn £0.003 a stream… and now tracks under 1,000 plays a year get paid nothing.
Most musicians I know don’t stand a chance.
And now there’s AI-generated “music”, designed for playlists, not people.
No stories, no craft, no humanity.
Just frictionless background noise, pushing real musicians even further down the algorithm.
I’m not anti-streaming. I’m anti-exploitation.
If you want exciting, innovative music?
Support the artists directly.
Bandcamp. Merch. Gigs. Downloads.
It all matters. ❤️
Great post, Steven. I couldn’t agree with you more. Three vinyl albums that I bought in 2025 and listen to constantly are Porcupine Tree’s In Absentia, Deadwing and Fear of a Blank Planet. Admittedly, I do listen to a lot of Spotify, as well (incidentally, PT was my second most listened to artist and Fear of a Blank Planet was my most listened to track in 2025). However, I try to buy on vinyl the albums I like the most. I plan to add more PT and SW to my vinyl collection in 2026!
Funny really I have been buying alot of Steven Wilson in physical format!!
Great list, Steven––only 3 or 4 that I know. I look forward to working my way through the rest. I mostly use streaming to explore before I buy, and then I use Qobuz, not Spotify. Qobuz pays its artists much better (still not well, admittedly) and serves up only uncompressed files. Sounds great and is much better organized for exploring new music!
Most of my listening is from physical formats, which still gives me much greater pleasure.
De nouvelles découvertes en prévision ✨️
Can't beat a physical cd or vinyl for quality music. It is good to listen to new artist first, then buy it. Perhaps samplers are the answer.
I did buy your blu-ray and attended the Montreal show. Amazing! And I also bought close to 100 albums this year… as usual! Physical albums always have a special place in my heart!
O, cheers for the Paul Schutze pick! The Album Years introduced me to him and I bought phyisical copy of Apart.
Speaking of, we absolutely need more Album Years!
My why good taste you have
Steven, I recently got a very decent turntable and receiver from my brother who has a massive album collection, MAYBE even rivaling yours even though I have admittedly not seen it. I just need some nice speakers. I have been partial to Bose speakers forever and won’t even consider a car that does not have a premium sound system with Bose speakers. But maybe there are others that are better for a surround sound home setup. Any and all suggestions are welcome. On vinyl, my next album will be be Robin Trower’s Bridge of Sighs, followed by your entire collection (I only have 4 as of now) and a very long list of albums mostly from my youth like Genesis, PF and Yes, my favorites at the time (and still are among my favorites). On albums, if there are any FNM or hard-core Pattonites here, his latest collaboration, although very unexpected, is pretty great. It came as a huge surprise to many I’m sure(😂) because I thought he’d said something about doing something with John Zorn again. Anyway, the other group is a folk band, The Avett Brothers. The album was sort of a bicoastal creation. It is excellent and has a beautiful cover. It’s simply called AVTT/PTTN and I have tickets for 2 shows in April. I have a front row seat at one of them because it will just be me going which is strategic. If you are going solo to a show and buying only one ticket, there’s an excellent chance of getting a much better seat than if you were buying 2 or more. The reason, obviously, is because you’ll be “filling a hole” in a row that has just one empty seat. This is what I did at The Overview show at the Tabernacle. I got a front row seat pretty much dead center to the stage. I got some excellent photos from the show which I couldn’t have been more impressed with!! I’m always looking for new stuff to listen to so thanks for the recommendations. Lately, I’ve been listening to The Strokes and have bought their best 4 albums. So keep the suggestions coming. I’ll check out some songs/ albums on Apple Music. Cheers!!
Great post Steven. Seeing Riddles of the Sphinx here genuinely surprised me. I somehow missed this piece of Ratledge’s work, and now I’m fascinated by it. It feels like a hidden corridor branching off from the Soft Machine universe. More inward, almost like thinking in sound. Thank you for pointing us toward it, this kind of unexpected discovery is exactly why lists like this matter.
There are many perspectives. Album is great, no doubt. In the golden 70's they arrived in Brazil with a year of delay and the imported ones were so much expensive. I 've bought usually 3 or 4 in a year.
So, streaming is very democratic and I can listen stuff that I only could do chez some friends.
But the compression is a problem and is altering the music. Drums that was to be in the back, suddenly stomped. This days, listenning to The Lamb on Spotify, the guitar came to front, corrupting the conception of the original. Not everything is supposed to be heard with the same emphasys ang the work of original engineers is authoral and deserves respect.
Great list, I only know the Tom Waits record. Talking about spotify: My wife has cancelt the subscription because of the tuny share. Only 4-5 plays makes about a cent. We have apple music, which pays a cent/penny per stream so 4-5 times more.
But we both buy physical media like CDs or BluRay audio. I really enjoy listening to your Atmos mix of Franky goes to Hollywood’s “Welcome to the Pleasuredom“ which came into our house before Christmas. I had so many memories in my mind from the time of its first release.
Thank you very much.
And last but not least:
I really like you biography by Robert M. Harvey , I got it for Christmas from my wife.
Again my question: When do you sleep? I don‘t know any artist with a productive output like you, awesome 😀
Take care, from Mario /Germany
PS: Your show in Hamburg was outstanding🤩
You are preaching to the converted here Steven. The music album is the greatest art form (my opinion). 2025 has been an exceptional year for new music with my top 3, Amanda Shires, Nobody’s Girl, Paul Weller, Find Eldorada and Lucas Nelson American Romance. Re issued and re discovered Richard Hawley, Cole’s Corner and Shack, here’s Tom with the weather (Michael Head has to be the best songwriter so few people have heard of).
Awesome! Yes, I already own a bit of PT/SW vinyl, along with a lot of other stuff, both in the prog genre as well as the typical rock and jazz genres. Incidentally I was recently in the US at Guitar Center (don't really like the store, but looking for a specific Martin guitar for my wife) and I was wearing a Deadwing t-shirt. Honestly, nobody comments on this shirt ever! Anyway, a young guy comes up to ask if I needed any help, immediately recognizes my T-shirt and just raved about it, and about PT. We talked quite awhile because he had never seen PT live and I told him how much he' needs to see either SW or PT. Anyway, we're done talking and another guy who works there comes up to me and starts talking to me about the shirt and how much he loves PT Both of these guys were in their late 20s, early 30s. 5 minutes later, the manager walks past me, on a mission, looks at me and doesn't register anything, but as he passes me he looks back and says "great band". I was surprised that in San Bernardino, there were people who recognized PT. And happy to see it.
Steven, I don't see things in the same way as you. I live in Brazil, a third-world country. I basically have money to spend on vinyls. Even when you played in Brazil, I couldn't go to the concert since I didn't have the money to do so. But it was a reason for me not share your music with friends. I have been listening to you since "Fear of a Blank Planet". 2007. This year, IDK for how many people I recommended you to. And still, who deserves a toast is a first-class world citizen that have money to buy your physical records? Music is a celebration, not a division or categorization of people.