Spotify - anyone heard of it?

I have narrowed the peak of the music industry to the moment I paid $18 at FYE for the PJ's soundtrack to get the one raphael saadiq song I liked, it's been all downhill for them ever since

lol

well tbf before recordings there was sheet music, so I'd extend the "temporary burst" of profitability back a little further. But yeah it's basically the age of mechanical reproduction we're talking about, and the age of digital reproduction has now subsumed it.

i don't think the era of sheet music is comparable in scale to the recent burst of profitability

it would be hard to find an appropriate way to compare the industries, and you're probably right, but tin pan alley hits could sell millions of copies of sheet music. It was possible to make a living from music publishing alone for at least a brief period of history.

the reason I called it a "fire sale" is that the only reason to make the physical purchase of music needless, to wholly trade real dollars for digital pennies, is if you've given up on selling physical music.

But "trade real dollars for digital pennies" strikes me as hyperbole. The ratio is not 100:1 or 50:1 as "trade real dollars for digital pennies" suggests. If the basic *price per album*, at the current Spotify payment rate, is about $2.25, then what is the real comparative ratio of profit between a CD sale and 450 song streams?

it turned out that people were the worst record company of all

If the basic *price per album*, at the current Spotify payment rate, is about $2.25,

price is computed at the track level, not the album level, yr basic assumptions are wrong

lol tim i love that you're sweating the verity of shorthand metaphors and ignoring literally everything else

and see damon k's posted quote upthread, the algorithms/rates are proprietary and "secret" and generally work out to be even less than the agreed upon basic rate

are mog's royalties higher than spotify's?

price is computed at the track level, not the album level, yr basic assumptions are wrong

This was based on an average album comparison I made above.

I don't mean to ignore anything. I think the rates are probably too low. I just don't by how much.

I just don't KNOW by how much.

Around the time the RIAA was suing everybody, people still sympathized with musicians, but now folks are outright saying "FUCK YOU, MUSICIAN" to people in bands who actually want to be paid for what they record.

otm

the riaa and Lars tbf

/Around the time the RIAA was suing everybody, people still sympathized with musicians, but now folks are outright saying "FUCK YOU, MUSICIAN" to people in bands who actually want to be paid for what they record./

otm

They also want people to listen to what they record and it's not clear to me that they will if they have to pay standard CD prices.

As a musician myself, I've always thought the only way I could make music I wanted to make was to give up on the idea of earning enough to support myself.

I don't think it's just people liking free stuff. I think Spotify and the like may simply be revealing that we as a culture don't really value music as highly as musicians think we should.

Nah that's bulllshit. The value went down because it became easier to get cheaper or free, not because "we as a culture" blah blah. If we could suddenly 3d print food in our homes at no cost and stopped paying for food it wouldn't be because we don't value food "as a culture"

you're both right though, before the internet artists had all the leverage, like: you can hear two of my songs but if you even want to know what 80% of my album even sounds like, pay $15-$20

but now that effective BATNA to each album purchase decision is a $0 torrent that allows you to hear the whole thing anyway, well

grrr i'm mad at spotify right now

are you shaking your fist at the cloud

yes

if you are mad at spotify, you are
mad at the FUTURE. I prescribe OPTIMISM.

They pulled all the spotify techs to work on ACA site...now when you click on Lou Rawls you mite get Lou Gramm

Spotify should coordinate healthcare for musicians

Free healthcare but your doctor interrupts the session every 5 minutes to show you an ad for Kraft Mac and Cheese.

ok i'm done being mad at spotify

did you pass your physical?

yes

did you know there's a Labradford track that sounds a lot like a Korla Pandit tune? I learned this from spending way too much time on spotify.

dude i am on so much spotify right now think I took too much

I unchecked the boxes under Preferences for it to load everything I have on my hard drive every time I open the program. Program starts much easier now.

so spotify haters (or canadians without spotify) who didnt like the webpage that used youtube can now join users on the other 2 if they have deezer.
http://gigaom.com/2013/11/25/soundrop-the-turntable-fm-of-spotify-apps-is-now-also-on-deezer/

http://soundrop.fm/press/2013/11/25/soundrop-launches-in-deezer/

http://techcrunch.com/2013/11/25/once-a-turntable-rival-popular-spotify-app-soundrop-launches-on-deezer-as-co-founder-steps-down-as-ceo/

To get Soundrop, simply add it in Deezer’s App Studio, or visit this address directly http://www.deezer.com/app/soundrop. Soundrop is available in French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, German, Polish, Turkish, Thai and Dutch.

http://techcrunch.com/2013/11/21/deezer-will-launch-in-the-u-s-next-year-and-fight-head-to-head-with-music-streaming-giants/

How does the catalog of deeper compare with spotify?

no idea as ive never used it but it seems its in a LOT of countries and is popular in france and germany.
The UK/Aus/Canada/Ireland gets it

Here's a list of 180+ countries that have it
http://developers.deezer.com/guidelines/countries

Led Zep. Merry Christmas...

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/12/business/media/spotify-said-to-secure-exclusive-deal-with-led-zeppelin.html?_r=0

beatles and ac/dc the last huge ones left

Joanna Newsom

Only the first two Led Zep albums are available so far.

xpost jim o'rourke too. isn't drag city not on it at all?

tool, obviously. still not on itunes

isn't drag city not on it at all?

That's correct, AFAIK.

nor thrill jockey

Spotify is to extend its "free" ad-supported music service to mobile devices.

Smartphone users will be able to build playlists of songs and then hear them played back in a random order. Tablet users will have more control, letting them select specific tracks.

The Swedish firm also announced it was expanding to a further 20 countries, taking its total reach to 55.

Experts said it needed to make the moves to combat growing competition.

Until now Spotify has offered a free-to-use product only on PCs, and had restricted its mobile apps to paying subscribers.

But its founder, Daniel Ek, said bringing a free service to Android and iOS devices would tempt more people to eventually switch to the premium version where they could access higher-quality audio, no adverts and the ability to listen to songs offline.

"Our very clear mission is getting more people to access and discover more great music," he told a press conference in New York.

"Along with more free users there will be more subscribers, and that means more revenue back to the industry."

The firm is dropping the 10-hours-a-month cap it previously placed on long-term users of its free services.
Mobile YouTube

Over the past year Google has rolled out its own subscription Play Music service in several countries, Apple has launched iTunes Radio in the US and Bloom.fm has begun offering subscription packages at cheaper rates than Spotify in the UK.

In addition Rdio has expanded its music-streaming service to 51 countries, while France's Deezer has announced its intention to begin offering tracks in the US next year.

Mr Ek suggested Spotify would gain an advantage over its rivals by offering a product that was free to use and gave device owners control over exactly which songs they listened to.

But one expert pointed out that YouTube already did that.

"YouTube is available on all smartphones with absolutely no premium fee at all, and you get video, social features and lyrics as well," said Mark Mulligan, editor of the Music Industry Blog.

"The labels have always been very keen to keep a separation between the free tier being locked to the PC and premium to mobile, but YouTube has never played by those rules.

"This is about making the playing field more level."

Andy Malt, editor of the industry news site, CompleteMusicUpdate.com. said there had been reports that YouTube had secured licences to begin its own paid music subscription service early next year with ad-free, offline-use features.

"In January we're expecting YouTube to launch its own music service, which may well have a strong mobile offering," he said.

"Also, the long-awaited Beats Music service, from Dr Dre's company will launch in the US the same month and offer strong competition.

"I suspect at this stage Spotify is trying to move ahead of its competitors to try to maintain its dominance in the streaming market ahead of extreme competition. Next year will be a make-or-break time for many."

Spotify also announced it was adding Led Zeppelin's tracks to its library as a streaming "exclusive" and had teamed up with speaker manufactures to allow its premium members to send music wirelessly to their systems.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-25338591

The firm is dropping the 10-hours-a-month cap it previously placed on long-term users of its free services.

hmmm, does this mean business isn't go too well?

Seems more like it's bending to market pressure to offer the same service on mobile that it does on pc.

sounds like going for further ad reach

http://i.imgur.com/zkCx1cA.png

Yeahhhh..... No.

Genuinely awestruck by the dead-eyed philistinism of this quote:

“Music is an accompaniment, to add to your jog, your workday, your prep in the kitchen,” said James L. McQuivey, an analyst for Forrester Research. “ But it’s not something you’re eager to pay for if you don’t have to.”

I mean, of course not. Not when, y'know, your subscription to your fucking squash club is due at the end of the month.

(Source)