Music professor Tom Rizzuto said that streaming media carries hidden costs that threaten the long-term preservation of global art and culture.
The shift toward cloud-based access creates a vulnerability where art can disappear if platforms change or licenses expire. This transition risks a future where cultural history is controlled by corporations rather than preserved by the public.
Speaking at TEDxMolloy University, Rizzuto traced the history of physical media from vinyl and CDs to more unconventional formats. He highlighted the example of Soviet-era "bone music," where records were etched onto discarded X-ray films to bypass government censorship. These physical artifacts allowed music to survive under oppressive regimes, a feat impossible for centralized digital servers.
Physical media also serves as a safeguard against the total erasure of cinema. Rizzuto cited the near-loss of the film "Nosferatu" as a cautionary tale of how easily art can vanish without physical copies. He said that when a format is abandoned, the content stored on it often disappears along with the hardware required to play it.
The presentation, recorded on Feb. 28, 2026 [1], emphasizes that while streaming offers instant convenience, it lacks the permanence of a tangible object. Rizzuto said that art should not exist only in the cloud, as digital files are subject to deletion and modification without the owner's consent.
By maintaining a collection of physical media, individuals ensure that the original intent of the artist remains intact. This practice prevents the "digital decay" that occurs when files are compressed, or removed from streaming libraries for business reasons.
“Art should not exist only in the cloud.”
The debate over physical versus digital media is no longer about convenience, but about cultural sovereignty. As the industry moves toward a subscription-only model, the ability to own a permanent copy of a work becomes a critical act of preservation against corporate volatility and digital obsolescence.
