Spotify - where's the catch?

[fhdz]

To be fair, he actually provided some numbers.

[mongers]

To be fair, he actually provided some numbers.

But based on a number of assumptions, for counter examples I can think of several professional musicians I've had dealings with who firstly don't allow their music on streaming services, also some will, some won't use digital downloads websites.

And quite a few have fought* to regain the valuable rights to their original releases, so they now run their own record labels, so selling direct now gives them considerable more revenue per cd sale than previously, which is another good reason to buy in this way.



* In quite a few instances, because of the release dates, these back catalogues are now reverting back to the artists/holders.

[Jaron]

without premium lots of stuff is off limits and you can only listen to a song 5 times too.
it used to be great, despite a sometimes iffy libraray ive not used it for years.

I don't think this is true. I didn't have a premium account for awhile and didn't encounter any play limits. Has anyone else seen that? I believe that premium just takes ads away and lets you use it on a mobile device.

[Jaron]

There is also songs you might want to listen to that aren't on Spotify. I don't think I've found much of the Eagles, Pink Floyd, and I can't find Taylor Swift's Red album.

[katmai]

Dude it's tyr

[Grey Fox]

To be fair, he actually provided some numbers.

But based on a number of assumptions, for counter examples I can think of several professional musicians I've had dealings with who firstly don't allow their music on streaming services, also some will, some won't use digital downloads websites.

And quite a few have fought* to regain the valuable rights to their original releases, so they now run their own record labels, so selling direct now gives them considerable more revenue per cd sale than previously, which is another good reason to buy in this way.



* In quite a few instances, because of the release dates, these back catalogues are now reverting back to the artists/holders.

The problem is obviously their contract with a distributor. Handle your own business, deal with spotify directly.

[mongers]

To be fair, he actually provided some numbers.

But based on a number of assumptions, for counter examples I can think of several professional musicians I've had dealings with who firstly don't allow their music on streaming services, also some will, some won't use digital downloads websites.

And quite a few have fought* to regain the valuable rights to their original releases, so they now run their own record labels, so selling direct now gives them considerable more revenue per cd sale than previously, which is another good reason to buy in this way.



* In quite a few instances, because of the release dates, these back catalogues are now reverting back to the artists/holders.

The problem is obviously their contract with a distributor. Handle your own business, deal with spotify directly.

No I was refutting the ideas that you can take a specific set of circumstances and say hey look this guy only gets 50c per cd sales, the reality is a lot more complex than the freetard community wants to admit.

Bottom line, if you're only willing to pay people peanuts, indirectly at that, then you'll end up only listening to organ grinders, the monkey having left to take part in a tv talent contest.

[Eddie Teach]

Bottom line, if you're only willing to pay people peanuts, indirectly at that, then you'll end up only listening to organ grinders, the monkey having left to take part in a tv talent contest.

Nah, people will still make music because they enjoy doing it, and the successful/popular ones will still get a lot of money for it.

[DontSayBanana]

Yes, Tyr, I'm making up the stuff I found in 38 CFR.  Those numbers are dictated by US copyright law, dude.  Your numbers might vary in the UK, but here, you'll get a lot of asshole musicians who are either too disgruntled, too inept, or too embarrassed to tell you the real numbers.

[Sophie Scholl]

*pssst*  I think you meant to call out Mongers, not Tyr.

[Syt]

I don't have the numbers, but the story in the media over here has been for a while now that for the average artist or those under contract with small labels or independent the main source of income is playing gigs.

[Vricklund]

without premium lots of stuff is off limits and you can only listen to a song 5 times too.
it used to be great, despite a sometimes iffy libraray ive not used it for years.

I don't think this is true. I didn't have a premium account for awhile and didn't encounter any play limits. Has anyone else seen that? I believe that premium just takes ads away and lets you use it on a mobile device.

It used to be true and might still be for certain countries. The US never had the 5 times limit but Sweden did, I think they changed it so that now you can only listen to 10h monthly with free.

The catch is that you rarely listen to something new. With radio you're introduced to a whole range of styles, with streaming music you're stuck in your own little music bubble. I usually don't have time to browse for something new so I need to be in a particularly curious state of mind to go "similar artist hopping".

[Syt]

One seemingly minor thing that I nevertheless greatly love about Spotify is that if you listen to an album there's rarely a gap between tracks - which is invaluable for classical pieces that often become choppy otherwise.

It's what made me cancel my subscription at Classical Archives, even though their library is absolutely amazing.

[The Minsky Moment]

Any reason to switch from Rhapsody?
Seems to me that Spotify does better in areas I don't care about like social sharing of playlists, while doing less well on things like artist information that are more useful to me.

[mongers]

Any reason to switch from Rhapsody?
Seems to me that Spotify does better in areas I don't care about like social sharing of playlists, while doing less well on things like artist information that are more useful to me.

I guess the breath of their catalogue would be key for me.

Someone should do a comparison website for the streaming services, showing which acts and labels are on which; it could then generate an income on click-thru.