The problem is that some bands were never signed to a label, broke up before spotify got big, or for some other reason don't exist on any of the popular streaming sites. The problem is getting smaller as time goes on, but it still exists. I can self-host something like Ampache or Plex or something, but then I don't get any sort of discovery features, and I have to go to a totally different platform to listen to new artists.

GPM was nice in that it merged the cloud music with your own collection, but I'm pretty resigned to the fact that I'm going to lose that functionality when they finally shut it down.

> The problem is that some bands were never signed to a label, broke up before spotify got big, or for some other reason don't exist on any of the popular streaming sites.

For Spotify, Google, Amazon, Apple, etc. that's not a problem.

Are people going to cancel their accounts because they can't listen to a very small subset of music? Probably but it's going to be a tiny minority of users that's inconsequential to their bottom line.

That was my Google Play Music use case as well. About a year ago I set up a plex server on my NAS and bulk downloaded my GPM library onto it (which to google’s credit was easy to do). Now I have them on my own hardware, and accessible on the go with the Plex app. It’s a better experience for video than audio, but it’s totally serviceable.

There had been murmurs for a long time of Google Play Music going away, so I moved off ASAP. Looks like that was a good call.

That was my move as well. I already had a decently sized NAS with Plex that was accessible anywhere. The music experience through GPM and Spotify is better, but at least I can manage the music myself and I never have to worry about it going away (or some weird licensing or exclusivity issue not allowing me to listen to something I want to listen to). And my bootlegs, b-sides, remixes, and rare tracks that you can't get on streaming services is preserved too.

> "If there was, why would you waste your time? Either it's not going to be free or it's going to disappear."

Because voting with your wallet works.

If it's free you're not voting with your wallet...