MP3 downloads have left people feeling 'disenfranchised' by digital music, according to Deezer, the new kid on the music streaming block.
What P2P file sharing began, digital downloads have compounded; while in days of yore, we'd pull on our most impressive flares and rock up to record stores to spend hours perusing the shelves, debating the superiority of Pink Floyd versus The Jam and huddling in listening booths, these days we just tap an artist into iTunes and click buy.
We've lost that satisfying, emotional experience that should go along with buying and enjoying music, argues Mark Foster, the company's UK MD.
"A lot of people don't understand digital music; they're disenfranchised by MP3 because it's very clinical, there's no physical object to hold and to have," he told TechRadar.
Human league
"What we're trying to do is humanise music again, make discovering new bands more like a 'musical journey' like it was when we were young," he continued.
On the surface, Deezer is just another streaming service but it hopes to become a kind of online Empire Records.
As well as peddling subscription-based streaming packages, Deezer puts on live gigs which it streams on its website, as well as providing editorial content like a blog, album reviews and other music news, all overseen by an experienced music journalist.
