Why We Sell Downloads in the Streaming Era

A single stream on Spotify pays between $0.003 and $0.005. That means an independent artist needs roughly 250 streams just to earn one dollar. For a small label like NullRecords, streaming revenue barely covers the cost of distribution.

We still put our music on streaming platforms — discovery matters, and we want people to hear the work. But streaming was never designed to be the final destination. It's a sample. A preview. The real product is the lossless, DRM-free download you can keep forever.

Ownership vs. Access

When you stream, you're renting access. The moment you cancel your subscription — or the platform removes a track — it's gone. When you buy a download, you own the file. No subscriptions, no region locks, no algorithms deciding what you hear next.

Every album in the NullRecords Store ships as uncompressed WAV — the exact same quality that left the studio. No lossy encoding, no DRM wrappers.

The Math for Independent Artists

Here's the reality for an independent release:

• 1 album sale at $9 = same revenue as ~2,250 Spotify streams
• A modest album with 10 tracks needs ~225 full listens per sale equivalent
• Most independent tracks never reach 1,000 total streams

Direct sales aren't just better per-unit economics — they're the only sustainable model for experimental music that doesn't chase algorithmic trends.

Why Lossless Matters

Spotify streams at 320kbps OGG Vorbis at best. Apple Music does better with AAC, and their lossless tier uses ALAC — but it's still locked inside their ecosystem. A WAV file is universal. Play it on any device, any software, any operating system, for the rest of your life.

If you care about sound quality — or just about actually owning what you pay for — downloads are the way.

We're Not Anti-Streaming

Streaming is great for discovery. We use it. Our full catalog is on Spotify, Apple Music, and everywhere else. But we built this store because we believe the people who love this music enough to buy it deserve the best possible version of it — and they deserve to keep it.

Browse the store — every album is $9, lossless WAV, DRM-free, instant delivery via Proton Drive.