History Main / DenialOfDigitalDistribution

* Both entries of the ''WesternAnimation/AdventuresInMusicDuology'' remain unavailable on Disney+, with both having last been seen on DVD on the out-of-print Walt Disney Treasures Collection set ''Rarities'' and the Virtual Vault section on the 2010 Blu-Ray release of ''WesternAnimation/Fantasia2000''.

* In May 2023, several Creator/DisneyPlus original movies, including ''Film/TheOneAndOnlyIvan'', ''Better Nate Than Ever'', and the 2022 remake of ''Literature/CheaperByTheDozen'' were pulled from the service, and, aside from the soundtracks for the former two, are unavailable to stream anywhere.

* '''Denial of Streaming''': You can purchase the work digitally, but it's not on services like Spotify or Netflix. The usual justification is that the streaming services [[UsefulNotes/HollywoodAccounting pay creators too little]] -- if this argument is used, expect debates on whether the creator's stance is justified, or they're just being greedy. In some cases, the creator will allow the work to be on certain streaming services, but not others.

* The 2005 version of ''VideoGame/NeedForSpeedMostWanted'' will likely never be sold digitally again, especially after the 2012 version came out.

* Frank Miller Presents is an independent comic publisher founded by Creator/FrankMiller in 2022 that currently only caters exclusively to comic stores, with its works not available on digital platforms or online retailers.

* ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls1998'' used to be a victim of this outside the US, but since September 26, 2023, it is no longer.

** As of March 2023, Netflix has the first four seasons, while Hulu has the ninth and final season. Seasons 5 through 8 are not available on any streaming service, but the whole series can still be purchased digitally.

* Most of the Creator/RodgersAndHammerstein movies disappeared from digital retailers in 2023, as did Creator/DisneyPlus's uploads of ''Film/TheSoundOfMusic'' (one of the service's launch titles) and ''Film/{{Oklahoma}}''

* Music/NeilYoung indefinitely pulled all of his music from Spotify in 2022 to protest their support for controversial podcaster Creator/JoeRogan, who Young accused of spreading misinformation about the UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic. Young issued the platform an ultimatum, stating that he'd remove his material unless Rogan was kicked off, and he made good on his threat two days later. Young's music remained available on other streaming platforms such as Apple Music (who were quick to tout the availability of Young's music [[https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/28/tech/apple-music-neil-young/index.html on social media advertisements and their front page]]) and Amazon Music ([[https://nypost.com/2022/01/31/neil-young-offers-free-amazon-music-amid-spotify-boycott/ whom Neil personally endorsed]]). Soon afterwards, Music/JoniMitchell followed suit with pulling her music from Spotify, followed by Nils Lofgren (who has served as Young's bandmate in Crazy Horse), Music/{{Failure}}, Music/IndiaArie, and each of the members of Music/CrosbyStillsAndNash.

** ''WesternAnimation/TheSkeletonDance'' remains exclusive to physical media, having last been seen in the supplements for the Blu-Ray of ''WesternAnimation/SnowWhiteAndTheSevenDwarfs''

* The digital releases of Kim Mitchell's GreatestHitsAlbum are missing the intro and outro, titled "Transcendental Soda" and "Hare Soda", respectively.

* Electronic musician Terre Thaemlitz refuses to put her releases on streaming services and takes down any fan uploads she can find, out of protest to the policies of companies like [=YouTube=] and [=SoundCloud=] but also to avoid her music falling into the hands of people she disagrees with ideologically. Her Bandcamp allows streaming and downloads of select albums with "not enough interest for a physical repress", but the only legal way fans of her work as DJ Sprinkles (including the CultClassic album ''Midtown 120 Blues'') can listen to her music is through purchasing directly through her website.

* '''Partial Digital Distribution''': The digital equivalent of MissingEpisode. Some of the creator's work is available digitally, but not all. Maybe the missing works are [[OldShame the ones the creator would rather forget anyway]]. Maybe there are some rights issues that only affect some of the creator's works. Maybe it's just an oversight.

* Music/KingCrimson are widely considered ''the'' most famous case of this across media: de-facto leader Robert Fripp spent the better part of two decades openly reviling digital distribution for the low royalties artists received from it, and did everything he could to ensure that the band's music could only be listened to on a physical format. Alongside Music/{{Prince}}, Fripp's affinity for going after even fan uploads became the stuff of legend among fans, and the idea of King Crimson appearing on digital platforms was treated as wishful thinking at ''best''... which made it all the more surprising when the entire King Crimson catalog was added to Spotify in 2019, with other platforms following suit over the course of the next few months.
* Due to Music/TheKLF [[KeepCirculatingTheTapes deleting their entire discography]] upon disbanding in the 1990's, long before the advent of digital distribution, their music was completely unavailable for streaming for years. This was eventually averted in 2021 when the band released a greatest hits compilation and a revised version of their album ''Chill Out''[[note]]with the samples that couldn't be cleared removed and the title changed to ''Come Down Dawn''[[/note]] to streaming services.
* Music/{{Lostprophets}}: The band's discography went out of print following Ian Watkins' conviction. Sony Music's license to their first three albums expired in 2020, but those albums are still available in the UK (through Visible Noise Records).

* {{Music/Queen}} + Paul Rodgers' ''The Cosmos Rocks'' is the only full original studio album under the Queen name not currently available digitally, [[BuryYourArt possibly because it was a relative commercial and critical flop]]. Also the case with the 1997 compilation ''Queen Rocks'', which notably included exclusive TheNotRemix versions of some songs [[note]]"I Can't Live with You" added new drum and guitar tracks to the original recordings, a few other tracks are unique "hybrid" mixes combining elements of their respective album and single versions[[/note]] and one new song sung by Brian May, "No One But You (Only The Good Die Young)".
* For a long while, Music/{{Radiohead}} openly refused to make their material officially available on any digital platform (barring ''Music/InRainbows'' and its "pay what you want" service), citing issues with the way they operated in regards to artist royalties. They eventually changed their opinion in 2016, with almost their entire backlog being made available on all digital download and streaming platforms as part of the Radiohead Public Library, a wider project that saw their backlog RereleasedForFree. The only song ''not'' put up was "Pop is Dead", a huge OldShame for the band.

* Almost every release by Music/{{Swans}} is readily available on digital services...with the glaring exception of their sixth studio album ''The Burning World'', presumably due to the fact that frontman Michael Gira considers the album an OldShame.

* Music/{{Beyonce}}'s ''Lemonade'' was released on Tidal on April 23, 2016, and made available for digital purchase the following day. Physical copies became available on May 6. However, the album first appeared on Spotify and Apple Music three years after its initial release.
* In 2018, Music/{{BUTAOTOME}} made their old ''Touhou'' albums available digitally. However, their old original albums (''Bowling'', ''Chess'', ''Billiards'', ''Hanafuda'' and ''Doubt'') did not get digital re-releases. Neither did the Solo Buta-R album ''Kaen Ranzen'', which features guest arrangers from other circles.
* [[Music/CClays C-CLAYS]] have released over 70 [=CDs=]. Only ''SOLE'', ''LUNA'', ''YES!'' and ''CORE'' are sold digitally. Notably, these albums do not feature vocalist Mai Kotohge, but several MUONKAGURA albums featuring her are available.

* Music/GarthBrooks is notorious for not putting his music on digital platforms for two reasons: he dislikes the payment models provided by most streaming services, and because he thinks that being able to purchase individual songs takes away from the integrity of the album. He did start his own streaming service called [=GhostTunes=] for a short time, and has made some of his later albums available on Amazon Music, but the rest are unaccounted for and can only be purchased physically.

* A little of [[Music/{{BEMANI}} Kanako Hoshino]]'s music is on Spotify and iTunes, but ''EIGHT ELEMENTS OF THE STAR'', ''EIGHT ELEMENTS OF THE STAR ~ANOTHER SENSE~'', ''Prism'', ''Starry ~the way to the SIRIUS~'', ''Articulation'' and ''Sky Arium'' are missing.
* Due to Music/TheKLF [[KeepCirculatingTheTapes deleting their entire discography]] upon disbanding in the 1990's, long before the advent of digital distribution, their music was completely unavailable for streaming for years. This was eventually averted in 2021 when the band released a greatest hits compilation and a revised version of their album ''Chill Out''[[note]]with the samples that couldn't be cleared removed and the title changed to ''Come Down Dawn''[[/note]] to streaming services.

* For some reason, the final album by the Albertan artist Paul Janz is the only one available for streaming.

* Music/ShinRaBansho: The albums ''Season 4 you'', ''M other'', ''On That Day, I Looked Up at the Sky'', ''Doppel'' and the original ''Ano Hi no Yume no Alice'' are missing from the digital marketplaces that offer their music. Also, ''Touhou Utattemita'' lacks "Hoshi wo Mawase Tsuki yori Hayaku"
* Almost every release by Music/{{Swans}} is readily available on digital services...with the glaring exception of their sixth studio album ''The Burning World'', presumably due to the fact that frontman Michael Gira considers the album an OldShame.
* [[Music/SyncArtS SYNC.ART'S]]: Its first three collaboration albums with Lunark have been released on multiple digital platforms, though it was a while after their physical releases. Out of all its non-collaboration albums, only ''Kitty'' is available digitally.

* Music/GarthBrooks is notorious for not putting his music on digital platforms for two reasons: he dislikes the payment models provided by most streaming services, and because he thinks that being able to purchase individual songs takes away from the integrity of the album. He did start his own streaming service called [=GhostTunes=] for a short time, and has made some of his later albums availble on Amazon Music, but the rest are unaccounted for and can only be purchased physically.

* All North American releases of ''WesternAnimation/MakeMineMusic'' (VHS and DVD in 2000 and Blu-ray as a Disney Movie Club Exclusive in 2021) cut the opening segment "The Martins and the Coys" because of its massive gunplay. There's also some digital censorship in "All the Cats Join In". Home video releases in other regions, such as the UK and Japan, got an entirely uncut version which also exists on Disney Channel airings in the 80s and 90s. No plans to stream the film on Creator/DisneyPlus have been announced as of April 2023, currently making it the only film in the Franchise/DisneyAnimatedCanon to be completely excluded, with the exception of clips from "Blue Bayou".

* Due to the UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic closing theatres during the first little while and the need to boost Creator/HBOMax, ''Film/WonderWoman1984'' was released both in theaters wherever possible plus on the (then-US only) aforementioned streaming service. Some unlucky countries haven't had any legal access to the movie at all for months such as France, where theaters were shut down with no hope of reopening in sight. There, the film was prevented from being put either on video-on-demand or limited streaming around Christmas 2020 because of the "Chronology of the Media" laws (it would eventually be released DirectToVideo there in April 2021, both physical and digitally). It ended up the most pirated movie of 2020 in France as a result.

* UsefulNotes/{{Evercade}} games are only available as physical cartridges, or pre-installed titles in the case of the Creator/{{Capcom}} games on the Evercade EXP, not as digital downloads. This is meant to be a throwback to the cartridge format used for 16-bit consoles and older.

* ''[[Music/JesusChristSuperstar Jesus Christ Superstar: Live in Concert]]'' (starring Music/JohnLegend as Jesus) disappeared from digital retailers and streaming services by 2022, but Universal still sells it on DVD.

* The ''Nintendo Labo'' kits and ''VideoGame/RingFitAdventure'' are among the few UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch games that cannot be downloaded on the eShop. This is because the games come with physical peripherals (cardboard accessories for the former, the Ring-Con and Leg Strap for the latter), so [[JustifiedTrope getting digital versions of those games without the peripherals would be incomplete experiences]].

* After December 14th., 2022, all games made by Creator/EpicGames became unavailable outside of their store. This includes all the games in the ''VideoGame/{{Unreal}}'' series and ''VideoGame/{{Bulletstorm}}''.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' episode "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS3E1StarkRavingDad Stark Raving Dad]]" ''was'' available on sites like Creator/{{Hulu}}, but it was eventually pulled in 2019 following the release of the controversial documentary ''Leaving Neverland'', which introduced some new alleged facts about Music/MichaelJackson's child abuse, and is the only ''Simpsons'' episode to be excluded from Creator/DisneyPlus.

* All of the streaming versions of ''[[Film/ANewHope Star Wars]]'', ''Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack'' and ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'' are the Special Editions with the 2011-'19 changes. The various VHS and Laserdisc versions have superior audio to any of the modern format releases, in addition to most copies having Han shoot first. Even the theatrical cut GOUT DVD (which has worse picture and sound than the Laserdiscs) has better audio than the streaming versions.