51–60 of 218 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
For someone who has never used Spotify, what changed?
A lot of music was removed. They added really bad limits, like a limit on how many hours you could listen every month. They forced you to create Facebook accounts to register, which means I had to create tons of Facebook accounts to overcome the hours/month limit. And some other things I don't remember.
I don't think this is a good long term investment. Disclaimer: I worked for a Spotify competitor in the past, so i have a pretty solid understanding of how the business works. I think it is a bad investment for one simple reason: Spotify purchases its main product (music) from a oligopoly. I'd estimate that 95%+ of the tracks streamed (by total playtime) are from one of the 3 major music labels: Universal, Sony or Wa…
I don't think this is a good long term investment. Disclaimer: I worked for a Spotify competitor in the past, so i have a pretty solid understanding of how the business works. I think it is a bad investment for one simple reason: Spotify purchases its main product (music) from a oligopoly. I'd estimate that 95%+ of the tracks streamed (by total playtime) are from one of the 3 major music labels: Universal, Sony or Wa…
So how do their competitors deal with this?
Apple, Google, and Amazon can afford to lose money all day long on the music streaming services that they each offer. This is because the services bolster their broader ecosystem of services and products whose aggregate value is far greater than any individual piece on it's own.
That's why Spotify is in a precarious position because streaming is it's only bread and butter.
Similar to UberEats + Uber versus a standalone service like DoorDash or Postmates. Uber doesn't need to make money on UberEats in order to be a successful business. Postmates does and that's a huge problem because delivery is a brutal business.
I don't think this is a good long term investment. Disclaimer: I worked for a Spotify competitor in the past, so i have a pretty solid understanding of how the business works. I think it is a bad investment for one simple reason: Spotify purchases its main product (music) from a oligopoly. I'd estimate that 95%+ of the tracks streamed (by total playtime) are from one of the 3 major music labels: Universal, Sony or Wa…
All Spotify needs to push the big labels back on their heels is to sign a few top 40 artists of their own.
I might be wrong but I remember reading something like 90%+ of streams on music services are of songs currently on the charts. Capture the popular culture like Netflix has and the labels will start rolling over on rates.
Crazy timing with them just getting hit with a $1.6B lawsuit. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-spotify-lawsuit/spotify-h...
People file lawsuits when companies have filed for IPO because generally that leads to companies being in a "quiet period" in which they cannot effectively respond publicly, which increases the likelihood of settlement, etc. It is also extremely common for competitors to seed the press with negative story lines, taking advantage of the legally mandated quiet period to remove the filing company's ability to counter th…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
For someone who has never used Spotify, what changed?
A lot of music was removed. They added really bad limits, like a limit on how many hours you could listen every month. They forced you to create Facebook accounts to register, which means I had to create tons of Facebook accounts to overcome the hours/month limit. And some other things I don't remember.
Citations please.
> They added really bad limits, like a limit on how many hours you could listen every month.
Just wrong.
> They forced you to create Facebook accounts to register
Also completely wrong.
> which means I had to create tons of Facebook accounts to overcome the hours/month limit.
This is also wrong because the previous two statements were also wrong.
> And some other things I don't remember.
And some things you flat out don't understand. Please avoid commenting on stories like this and spreading false information. It does no good.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
For someone who has never used Spotify, what changed?
A lot of music was removed. They added really bad limits, like a limit on how many hours you could listen every month. They forced you to create Facebook accounts to register, which means I had to create tons of Facebook accounts to overcome the hours/month limit. And some other things I don't remember.
It sounds like you're not a paying customer and go to great efforts to remain a non-paying customer. I'm not sure why they should be prioritizing your use case.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
A lot of music was removed. They added really bad limits, like a limit on how many hours you could listen every month. They forced you to create Facebook accounts to register, which means I had to create tons of Facebook accounts to overcome the hours/month limit. And some other things I don't remember.
> A lot of music was removed Citations please. > They added really bad limits, like a limit on how many hours you could listen every month. Just wrong. > They forced you to create Facebook accounts to register Also completely wrong. > which means I had to create tons of Facebook accounts to overcome the hours/month limit. This is also wrong because the previous two statements were also wrong. > And some other things…
https://www.wired.com/2010/05/spotify-adds-us-friendly-servi...
"Meanwhile a new free version called Spotify Open allows Europeans who had not been invited to sign up for free accounts in the past to join without being invited – however, they can only stream up to 20 hours of free music per month, with advertisements."
This is what the client looked like when you were out of hours: https://spotify.i.lithium.com/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/1... (notice the bar at the top right. dakika = hours I suppose. I can't find a better screenshot)
Facebook required: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/facebook-login-required-for-spo...
"Unfortunately you will need a Facebook account to access Spotify from now on, unless you already have an account set up"
So please just because you weren't there to see it don't say it's a lie
Can't say much about music being removed. I don't remember what they removed and don't have any citations. But I remember it happening.
I don't think this is a good long term investment. Disclaimer: I worked for a Spotify competitor in the past, so i have a pretty solid understanding of how the business works. I think it is a bad investment for one simple reason: Spotify purchases its main product (music) from a oligopoly. I'd estimate that 95%+ of the tracks streamed (by total playtime) are from one of the 3 major music labels: Universal, Sony or Wa…
This is the same problem Netflix & Amazon have been successful in combating. The answer is to become a content owner by competing with the big labels directly. All Spotify needs to push the big labels back on their heels is to sign a few top 40 artists of their own. I might be wrong but I remember reading something like 90%+ of streams on music services are of songs currently on the charts. Capture the popular cultur…
Netflix has this problem too but they “solved” it by making their own content. Amazon are Google are doing the same thing. That’s the direction I see Spotify going, though I wonder why Apple hasn’t done this yet.
I don't think this is a good long term investment. Disclaimer: I worked for a Spotify competitor in the past, so i have a pretty solid understanding of how the business works. I think it is a bad investment for one simple reason: Spotify purchases its main product (music) from a oligopoly. I'd estimate that 95%+ of the tracks streamed (by total playtime) are from one of the 3 major music labels: Universal, Sony or Wa…
The other week, my kids were watching TV and my wife and I were in the kitchen and one of them yelled out, "Mom, something popped up on Netflix saying the price is going up. What should I do?" My wife and I said the same thing instantly: "Just hit okay." We didn't even know what it went up to...hell I don't even know what it cost before. Pricing power is a helluva thing. Why does Netflix have this power? Because people love it. Because it's a part of their lives. Because people are habit-forming. And Spotify fits this mold pretty well...maybe not as strong as Netflix but still impressive. I think there are millions of Spotify customers out there [raising hang] who couldn't fathom going back to pre-2011...it probably makes them hyperventilate. Spotify could probably charge 2-3x what they charge today and I'm really not sure it would affect subscriber counts.
Remember a couple years ago when Amazon raised the annual Prime fee from $80 to $100 and no one cared? Yeah, kinda like that.
Buying from an oligopoly probably won't matter much here. Apple quickly blew those businesses up in the 2000's. The other problem is that the music industry suffers (like many other industries) from the 80/20 rule: a small group of artists are responsible for the vast majority of the profits. (Actually, I think the music biz is even more lopsided) It creates a weird dynamic for the labels and ultimately gives purchasers like Spotify more power. Consumers don't know anything about music labels - maybe not even their names - but man do they LOVE Spotify. Those kinds of things tend to be good investments.