If you only listen to music that is on streaming services, then of course you would think that they have "basically all music", since everything else is forgotten. I pirated music before Spotify was available, which exposed me to a wide variety of international artists, and I still periodically look up some of my favorites on streaming services, only to find that they are still absent. So I continue to pirate and buy albums from time to time.
Buying used records or borrowing them from the library does not earn artists money either, but no one bitches about that. As far as I'm concerned, downloading rips is the digital equivalent.
Spotify has been missing almost every hip hop b-side I've ever looked for. Like, the eps and lps that got these artists careers started aren't there. I had no idea how many b-sides some of them have until I started looking them up on soundcloud etc too.
Buying physical media you have the right to resell that one physical copy. Libraries pay extra fees for lending. In both cases only 1 person can use that copy at a given time, and the artist is paid for each copy. Downloading rips where thousands of people get an album in parallel without paying is in no way remotely equivalent.
The occasional bootleg of an impossible to licence recording is something most music lovers do. But make your default consumption route a paying one. The services are absolutely amazing for what they cost.
Yeah, some music hasn’t made it to streaming. Usually for sad reasons. Those artists need legitimate support even more. Buy em.
But please don’t equate pirating to library lending.
Buying used records or borrowing them from the library does not earn artists money either, but no one bitches about that. As far as I'm concerned, downloading rips is the digital equivalent.