Preston Maness ☭<p>So, <a href="https://tenforward.social/tags/TheMidnight" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>TheMidnight</span></a>, a popular (read: genre-defining, seminal, prototypical) <a href="https://tenforward.social/tags/synthwave" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>synthwave</span></a> group, is coming out with a new album, <a href="https://tenforward.social/tags/Syndicate" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Syndicate</span></a>. Alas, all of the promotional material and singles for it, so far, have been either on their website (the LP) or on platforms that only offer streaming and/or DRM downloads, with the exception of <a href="https://tenforward.social/tags/Qobuz" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Qobuz</span></a> and <a href="https://tenforward.social/tags/BeatPort" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>BeatPort</span></a>, which offer non-encumbered, DRM-free <a href="https://tenforward.social/tags/FLAC" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>FLAC</span></a> downloads. So, that's where I got the track (Qobuz). It comes with a warning though:</p><p>>Certain works may be withdrawn from the service for legal reasons, such as a revocation of rights. The titles purchased will then no longer be available for re-download. Download your purchases quickly. </p><p>I originally heard about Qobuz and BeatPort after numerous people kept pestering them for making announcements through the <a href="https://tenforward.social/tags/BandCamp" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>BandCamp</span></a> platform while never actually putting anything on BandCamp. It turns out, their latest label doesn't allow them to put stuff on BandCamp. Thankfully, they were at least transparent about this (after much pestering):</p><p><a href="https://themidnight.bandcamp.com/community?from=com-e-nm&sid=1905272&st=sm" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">themidnight.bandcamp.com/commu</span><span class="invisible">nity?from=com-e-nm&sid=1905272&st=sm</span></a></p><p>But seriously, this kind of shit, in 2025, is fucking annoying. Death to the streaming model.</p><p><a href="https://tenforward.social/tags/music" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>music</span></a></p>