Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Spotify is gaining leverage over record labels

techcrunch.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

131–140 of 162 posts

Re: Spotify is gaining leverage over record labels

#131

Post by pepve »

lucb1e wrote: post #77
SteveNuts wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> DRMed service could suddenly close down tomorrow don't sound good I'm not worried about that - it's not my collection, it's Spotify's. I'm merely paying for the unlimited consumption of their collection on demand, not to purchase the songs and have them for life. It'd be a different story if I expected the songs I listen to on Spotify to be available forever, but I don't, and that's not what I'm paying for.

You don't expect to be able to listen to the songs forever? Fair enough; I mean, you can always take another subscription service if Spotify would go out of business. But I've been there. When Grooveshark quit -- I was a paying member and had no up-front notice -- I lost my complete library. I've looked into making a back-up before and figured out some technical requirements for that (e.g. I cracked the "encrypted" c…

There is actually a straightforward way to export data from your Spotify account, try this:

https://developer.spotify.com/web-api/console/get-current-us...

Re: Spotify is gaining leverage over record labels

#132

Post by ilamont »

siproprio wrote: post #130
ilamont wrote: post #122

I wonder what Apple, Google, and Amazon Music can do to compete. They have advantages that Spotify cannot duplicate (large war chests, existing device/platform control, etc.) and one of them (Apple) is really strong when it comes to playlists. Apple is also doing a fair number of exclusive deals with music publishers and artists, although Billboard says the industry is moving away from this trend (1) although that co…

As a user of Apple Music and Spotify, I tell you, Apple is absolutely not strong when it comes to playlists. Just the fact that in Spotify you can have user created and shared playlists makes Spotify much stronger, for all the playlists their users have. Also, in Apple Music most of the playlists for genres other than Hip-hop and Pop are yearly "Hits" compilations. I think that Apple is much worse than Spotify in thi…

I was thinking of Apple vs. Amazon Music, whose playlists are sometimes laughably bad. Amazon is trying hard to be a contender in this space with low-cost plans but if they don't figure out playlists it will be an uphill battle against Spotify, Apple and other services that do better.

Re: Spotify is gaining leverage over record labels

#133

Post by genericpseudo »

ilamont wrote: post #122

I wonder what Apple, Google, and Amazon Music can do to compete. They have advantages that Spotify cannot duplicate (large war chests, existing device/platform control, etc.) and one of them (Apple) is really strong when it comes to playlists. Apple is also doing a fair number of exclusive deals with music publishers and artists, although Billboard says the industry is moving away from this trend (1) although that co…

It's all about the data.

The only game in consumer tech is (assuming supply) being able to predict, more accurately than your rivals, what users want. As soon as Spotify are no longer cut off from supply, then the organization with the best data and best machine learning will win.

Re: Spotify is gaining leverage over record labels

#134

Post by shmerl »

toxican wrote: post #127
shmerl wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But what you pay for, you can't keep. So you are back to square one. And who said you are supposed to pay scraps for good music?

This is a non-issue to most people though. I don't care if I keep it. I'm renting it and that's fine for me because it's a lot cheaper to rent music than to buy it one album or song at a time. If Spotify kicks the bucket, oh well I'll switch to Google, Apple, Amazon, etc. Music.

Why should I rent digital goods? It's quite nonsensical, because copying doesn't cost anything. I prefer to keep what I paid for.

Re: Spotify is gaining leverage over record labels

#135

Post by Nadya »

shmerl wrote: post #134
toxican wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a non-issue to most people though. I don't care if I keep it. I'm renting it and that's fine for me because it's a lot cheaper to rent music than to buy it one album or song at a time. If Spotify kicks the bucket, oh well I'll switch to Google, Apple, Amazon, etc. Music.

Why should I rent digital goods? It's quite nonsensical, because copying doesn't cost anything. I prefer to keep what I paid for.

They aren't saying you should. They're saying most people (incl. themselves) don't care to own the product. They'd rather pay to rent access to Spotify's collection than to be required to buy all the music they wish to listen to.

We need to make at least one assumption: Spotify will have the music you want to listen to when it is released (not always the case - and for myself - it is never the case.)

If you spend more than $120/yr on music it could make financial sense to "rent music" from Spotify with a premium subscription instead. If you aren't particularly attached to music you listened to last year, or five years ago, or a decade ago, then it doesn't make sense to want to own the music to begin with. If there is a particular artist you're attached to, that doesn't prevent you from also purchasing that album. You can also use Spotify to check out a band you just heard about [0]. I don't even use Spotify but recognize why others would instead of purchasing music.

[0] Remember the assumption we made.

Re: Spotify is gaining leverage over record labels

#136

Post by Emc2fma »

cryptarch wrote: post #121
quink wrote: post #66

Can't justify Spotify as I'm paying for YouTube Red/Google Play Music as I can stand YouTube ads less than the difference between Spotify and Google Play Music. I bet that'll come up more and more. One important differentiator might be to get the Japanese record labels a bit more aligned, all streaming providers have been faring terribly on that front.

What does YouTube Red do better than uBlock Origin?

Supports content creators instead of making them work w/o compensation

Re: Spotify is gaining leverage over record labels

#137

Post by shmerl »

Nadya wrote: post #135
shmerl wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why should I rent digital goods? It's quite nonsensical, because copying doesn't cost anything. I prefer to keep what I paid for.

They aren't saying you should. They're saying most people (incl. themselves) don't care to own the product. They'd rather pay to rent access to Spotify's collection than to be required to buy all the music they wish to listen to. We need to make at least one assumption: Spotify will have the music you want to listen to when it is released (not always the case - and for myself - it is never the case.) If you spend mor…

> If you aren't particularly attached to music you listened to last year, or five years ago, or a decade ago, then it doesn't make sense to want to own the music to begin with.

I guess so, but it's clearly not my case. I can listen to music in my collection, no matter when it was added. Otherwise it wouldn't end up there :)

Re: Spotify is gaining leverage over record labels

#138

Post by thirdsun »

Eridrus wrote: post #86
thirdsun wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I get that, but I think that convenience comes with a price: Missin gout on great music. Now or in the future. While I consider myself an enthusiast, I understand that people have different priorities and for many music may not be that important, but Spotify's library is anything but unlimited - there's just too much music not available on any streaming service. And more importantly you can lose access to music at an…

I used to care about this, but I've come to believe music is somewhat fungible for many people. If you're really into music you probably disagree, but in the 5 years I've paid for Spotify, the fact that some artists/albums have been missing hasn't really been a big deal for me. The fact that lots of people listen(ed) to the radio is further evidence of this.

Sure, I understand that. Spotify is an excellent and criminally cheap solution for most people. I don't think it's good for artists, but that's another discussion.

I just wanted to describe my point of view and as passionate music lover and collector Spotify alone wouldn't work at all for me. It's just too much music missing there, but that includes hard to find, rare stuff, vinyl-only releases and niche genres.

Re: Spotify is gaining leverage over record labels

#139

Post by thirdsun »

lucb1e wrote: post #105
tormeh wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Labels take most of that as well. Spotify isn't the problem - the labels are.

Yeah I've thought about this. Grooveshark tried to cut out that middle-man and they got sued to hell by the labels. If artists keep signing with labels, their problem. You don't need a label to be on Spotify.

> Grooveshark tried to cut out that middle-man and they got sued to hell by the labels.

Let's call it what it was: Plain piracy. Grooveshark had no rights and licensing in place for the content they streamed.

Re: Spotify is gaining leverage over record labels

#140

Post by visarga »

ZeroMinx wrote: post #71
visarga wrote: post #42

I got 99 problems but Spotify ain't one! because I live outside their small map. I don't exist for them and they don't exist for me. Edit: just joking, I am actually irritated I can't check out the Discover Weekly playlist, whenever it comes out in discussion. I just checked, my country is still not on their list.

Which country is that?

Romania. Spotfy-istan ends at Hungary, right at our border. We're part of that Europe that doesn't get into Spotify.
Post reply on HN