Spotify will now suspend or terminate accounts it finds are using ad blockers • Hacker News Board

Re: Spotify will now suspend or terminate accounts it finds are using ad blockers

#291

Post by marcinzm » Fri, Feb 08, 2019, 4:16 PM UTC

hiccuphippo wrote: post #63

moate wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But that's not the same. You have the right to control your content, but that's not what's happening here. Presumably in this example you want to use Spotify (otherwise the whole conversation is moot) but they don't want to you circumvent how their service works. You're not the one controlling this situation, Spotify is. Your statement sounds very akin to "fine, kick me out of this party I was clearly enjoying, I don…

The analogy doesn't seem right. It's more like you are at a party and the clown they hired goes on your face to yell something. You have the right to move away and enjoy the party elsewhere. And now they'll kick you out of the party if you don't allow the clown to yell at you, ok, I'll leave the party myself in that case.

Except the clown paid to host the party with the caveat that they get to yell at people. It's their party that you're getting to enjoy for free. You tried to get the benefit without any cost despite he terms being known and now the clown is kicking you out as a result.

Re: Spotify will now suspend or terminate accounts it finds are using ad blockers

#292

Post by mortivore » Fri, Feb 08, 2019, 4:17 PM UTC

michaelmior wrote: post #271

cletus wrote: post #255

Good. Spotify has a pretty cheap paid option that removes all of that. To those who justify wanting the paid service for nothing by saying Spotify won't "take responsibility" or "assume liability" for their ads or those ads "might deliver malware" or are "intrusive" as a weak rationalization, you present a false dichotomy. There are at least three options: 1. Pay for the service 2. Suffer through the ads 3. Don't use…

> 1-2 coffees a month Where do you buy coffee that one coffee costs $10?! (or even $5?) I still don't think it's a lot of money, but not quite so trivial.

Boston Stoker Large Grogg Latte

Re: Spotify will now suspend or terminate accounts it finds are using ad blockers

#293

Post by rchaud » Fri, Feb 08, 2019, 4:17 PM UTC

michaelmior wrote: post #271

cletus wrote: post #255

Good. Spotify has a pretty cheap paid option that removes all of that. To those who justify wanting the paid service for nothing by saying Spotify won't "take responsibility" or "assume liability" for their ads or those ads "might deliver malware" or are "intrusive" as a weak rationalization, you present a false dichotomy. There are at least three options: 1. Pay for the service 2. Suffer through the ads 3. Don't use…

> 1-2 coffees a month Where do you buy coffee that one coffee costs $10?! (or even $5?) I still don't think it's a lot of money, but not quite so trivial.

Toronto Starbucks: $4.95 for a grande cafe macchiato, which becomes $5.60 w/ tax. Even the cheapest black coffee is $3 I believe.

Re: Spotify will now suspend or terminate accounts it finds are using ad blockers

#294

Post by ar0 » Fri, Feb 08, 2019, 4:18 PM UTC

cletus wrote: post #255

Good. Spotify has a pretty cheap paid option that removes all of that. To those who justify wanting the paid service for nothing by saying Spotify won't "take responsibility" or "assume liability" for their ads or those ads "might deliver malware" or are "intrusive" as a weak rationalization, you present a false dichotomy. There are at least three options: 1. Pay for the service 2. Suffer through the ads 3. Don't use…

I think it will all depend on how this plays out in practice. For now, this is only some fineprint in a ton of other legalese that might or might not be used in the future.

I mean, if they show you a notification that you should really sign-up for a paid subscription or disable your adblocker, this does not really seem a big deal for me and all right for Spotify. However, if they terminate your account because you happened to use Spotify for a while on a system with adblocking enabled (does being on a Pi-Hole network count?), I am wondering if they won't just drive a lot of potential customers to Apple Music & Co, which is the last thing they need right now... I mean, if they would terminate my account like this, I definitely would not come crouching back to them asking for mercy to be allowed to sign-up for a paid subscription. I mean, I do have some dignity left.

(I usually use Spotify using their apps, so without ad-blocking, but I cannot guarantee that I haven't been using their web player from time to time, too, and of course my browser has an enabled ad-blocker. I don't pay for Spotify because I buy my MP3s and use Spotify primarily to discover new songs.)

Re: Spotify will now suspend or terminate accounts it finds are using ad blockers

#295

Post by HeadsUpHigh » Fri, Feb 08, 2019, 4:18 PM UTC

zalebz wrote: post #207

SnowingXIV wrote: post #118

Long time premium spotify user, but it seems they are more interested in their ad-tech than anything else. They introduce 0 new features or improvements and in fact actually remove things over time. It's amazing to see a product continue to get worse. Before you could send your friends a message within Spotify to send a song for them to listen while in the application and could even carry on a discussion. It was slic…

similar for me, very long time premium subscriber and it is extremely annoying how seemingly all the "improvements" over the years have been nothing I cared about while features I actually found useful have been removed I stay a subscriber because of (1) the size of the catalog and (2) the 'discover weekly' constantly delivers me new songs/bands that I thoroughly enjoy and would never have discovered on my own

Same here. I'm contemplating unsubing and my first thought was to look if there is a tool to download my discover weekly archive. I have an IFTT applet that adds the weekly playlist to an archive so I can listen to it later. Over 900 songs that I still haven't checked/catalogued.

Re: Spotify will now suspend or terminate accounts it finds are using ad blockers

#296

Post by birksherty » Fri, Feb 08, 2019, 4:19 PM UTC

cletus wrote: post #255

Good. Spotify has a pretty cheap paid option that removes all of that. To those who justify wanting the paid service for nothing by saying Spotify won't "take responsibility" or "assume liability" for their ads or those ads "might deliver malware" or are "intrusive" as a weak rationalization, you present a false dichotomy. There are at least three options: 1. Pay for the service 2. Suffer through the ads 3. Don't use…

> 2 coffees for a month

Where is that price from? What if I live in a poor country and price of 2 cup of coffee is $0.40?

Re: Spotify will now suspend or terminate accounts it finds are using ad blockers

#297

Post by sharpneli » Fri, Feb 08, 2019, 4:19 PM UTC

michaelmior wrote: post #271

cletus wrote: post #255

Good. Spotify has a pretty cheap paid option that removes all of that. To those who justify wanting the paid service for nothing by saying Spotify won't "take responsibility" or "assume liability" for their ads or those ads "might deliver malware" or are "intrusive" as a weak rationalization, you present a false dichotomy. There are at least three options: 1. Pay for the service 2. Suffer through the ads 3. Don't use…

> 1-2 coffees a month Where do you buy coffee that one coffee costs $10?! (or even $5?) I still don't think it's a lot of money, but not quite so trivial.

When I visited San Francisco I saw some cafe lattes and similar to be over $10, and that was the smallest size. That place is seriously expensive.

On the other hand it’s nice to visit a place where restaurant food costs more than in Finland.

EDIT: A Finnish comparison might be ”It’s just a pint or two per month”. So not that expensive.

Re: Spotify will now suspend or terminate accounts it finds are using ad blockers

#298

Post by kaelin » Fri, Feb 08, 2019, 4:19 PM UTC

number_six wrote: post #244

dessant wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The attitude you describe can easily hurt their business. They may be future paying customers that are exploring your service, or don't have the money yet to subscribe. And even in the latter group there is an opportunity for building brand loyalty. But to see these opportunities, the first step is to not have a hostile attitude towards your users.

but you forgot how businesses work these days: Fuck you, Pay me

That's how all businesses have worked since the beginning of time.

Re: Spotify will now suspend or terminate accounts it finds are using ad blockers

#299

Post by brink » Fri, Feb 08, 2019, 4:19 PM UTC

onemoresoop wrote: post #278

devy wrote: post #262

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am on a paid account and I use ad blockers religiously. Will Spotify still terminate my account?!

Do they have ads in the paid version??

Just banners advertising popular new releases.

Re: Spotify will now suspend or terminate accounts it finds are using ad blockers

#300

Post by AnthonyMouse » Fri, Feb 08, 2019, 4:19 PM UTC

cletus wrote: post #255

Good. Spotify has a pretty cheap paid option that removes all of that. To those who justify wanting the paid service for nothing by saying Spotify won't "take responsibility" or "assume liability" for their ads or those ads "might deliver malware" or are "intrusive" as a weak rationalization, you present a false dichotomy. There are at least three options: 1. Pay for the service 2. Suffer through the ads 3. Don't use…

> There are at least three options:

> 1. Pay for the service

> 2. Suffer through the ads

> 3. Don't use the service

Those are the customer's options. What about Spotify's?

1. Offer the service as paid-only, no free with ads option.

2. Offer a paid version and a free version, but some people use ad blockers.

3. Offer a paid version and a free version, block ad blockers and expose your customers to malware.

The last is the only one that has "expose your customers to malware" in it, so maybe they should pick one of the other two. Because if all the customers chose either paying or not using, that's the same anyway, and if they didn't, they're actively harming the remainder.