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

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

#891

Post by webninja »

penagwin wrote: post #71
antoineMoPa wrote: post #35

I dont get why people use spotify instead of listening to free online radios from anywhere in the world. As a bonus, its like travelling. There are ads, but they target other people than you so its not even annoying (you will not be influenced to buy a car at a dealership in another country). Note that if you are the kind who likes targeted ads, this does not apply to you.

Radio stations at least around the midwest here in the US only seem to play ~20 different songs, and it gets really repetitive, really fast, just ask anybody working retail. Plus the genre's are rather limited, it's usually one or two pop stations (with 90% song overlap), one or two country, maybe NPR or something in a podcast format, etc. Meanwhile all of the ads. Personally I'm on the student plan, and for what I l…

Yeah haha, many of the Top 40 stations literally only rotate 40 songs at a time.

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

#892

Post by webninja »

gboudrias wrote: post #555

So... they just became profitable, and now they're about to spite a lot of users for about 10% of their revenue? I hope this day haunts them. I can't believe how many people are discussing this as if ads are the utmost legitimate moneymaker. Ads are parasitic by their very nature, their purpose is to forcibly occupy some mind real-estate. Nobody wants to see ads, yet a large industry exists based on making people see…

They have an ad-free service option available

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

#893

Post by nobodyandproud »

gowld wrote: post #401
akerl_ wrote: post #340

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And if the approach is “I won’t use services that want to use 3rd-party-RCE-style ads”, it makes sense to me. But the folks who are blocking ads are taking Spotify’s offer (pay us, let us run our ads, or don’t use our service, pick 1) and trying to shoehorn a 4th option that Spotify doesn’t offer: get the content w/o Spotify getting paid. To tell Spotify “I’d use your service if you added an option where the ads didn…

Pandora and Google Play Music (and maybe Spotify too I don't know) put ads in the audio stream (and video, if you are looking at the app screen while listening to music for some reason). Seems simpler to do this than get into a technical arms race with users.

Video stream. That's when I uninstalled Pandora.

They get my ears. At the volume I dictate.

If they exceed that threshold, then into the trash they go. Spotify is no better.

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

#894

Post by webninja »

elamje wrote: post #221

But Spotify is only $10 a month....Your time spent pirating vs. time saved on Spotify has to be worth something.

For $15 bucks you can get 6 paid accounts for your friends and family and also get a free Google home mini too!

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

#895

Post by hanspeter »

kingosticks wrote: post #822
hanspeter wrote: post #813

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you point to the part of the Spotify ToC, where you agree not to block ads? I haven't been able to find anything about it.

Section 9.10 > circumventing or blocking advertisements in the Spotify Service, or creating or distributing tools designed to block advertisements in the Spotify Service

This is not included in the terms I see (it redirects to specific terms for my country https://www.spotify.com/dk/legal/end-user-agreement/#s9)

However if I change the country id to "us" I get the same version as you, and I can see this new section 9.10.

If I google the new text, I find articles from yesterday about Spotify changing their terms in order to ban users using adblockers. So it appears that up until now, users has not had any agreement with Spotify that they will not block or circumvent ads.

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

#896

Post by jsgo »

jammygit wrote: post #860
jsgo wrote: post #823

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If the terms change, they contact you that they changed. At that point, yeah, you’re bound by new terms if you continue using the service. That’s kind of been the way things have been since the advent of Internet services in general. I’m curious how you’re certain they defaulted first when you state that you never read the document in the first place.

Do they contact you? Most terms of service just say 'revisit here constantly in case we changed something'

I used Spotify during a Sprint promo (when they were my carrier way back when). At one point, I received an email stating that an update to the terms was made. I imagine they still do this, but I guess they could just as easily have stopped, not certain.

A lot of services that I’ve signed up with will announce new terms either via email (quick search of my email lists the most recent ones as Papa Johns, PlayStation, Disney Movie Rewards, Skype, Gamestop) or on next launch of app (Blizzard and Steam being prominent ones off the top of my head). I don’t know many that announce they will in advance though (ie at sign up saying they’ll communicate changes to you), so probably better to be proactive than reactive? I don’t know.

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

#897

Post by jsgo »

hanspeter wrote: post #895
kingosticks wrote: post #822

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Section 9.10 > circumventing or blocking advertisements in the Spotify Service, or creating or distributing tools designed to block advertisements in the Spotify Service

This is not included in the terms I see (it redirects to specific terms for my country https://www.spotify.com/dk/legal/end-user-agreement/#s9 ) However if I change the country id to "us" I get the same version as you, and I can see this new section 9.10. If I google the new text, I find articles from yesterday about Spotify changing their terms in order to ban users using adblockers. So it appears that up until now,…

Maybe not spelled out as such, but in section 8 under rights a user provides to Spotify, the ability to serve ads to you is there.

At least in the US terms. No idea for other countries.

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

#898

Post by hanspeter »

jsgo wrote: post #820
hanspeter wrote: post #813

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you point to the part of the Spotify ToC, where you agree not to block ads? I haven't been able to find anything about it.

You agree that they can serve them to you. Blocking them kind of stops that, yeah? 8 Rights you grant us In consideration for the rights granted to you under the Agreements, you grant us the right (1) to allow the Spotify Service to use the processor, bandwidth, and storage hardware on your Device in order to facilitate the operation of the Service, (2) to provide advertising and other information to you, and (3) to…

Granting Spotify rights means that the user allow them to show them ads. It's in there to protect Spotify. A user agrees not to sue them, if Spotify put ads on their phone.

It has nothing to do with whatever the user does to avoid being exposed to those ads.

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

#899

Post by hanspeter »

jsgo wrote: post #897
hanspeter wrote: post #895

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is not included in the terms I see (it redirects to specific terms for my country https://www.spotify.com/dk/legal/end-user-agreement/#s9 ) However if I change the country id to "us" I get the same version as you, and I can see this new section 9.10. If I google the new text, I find articles from yesterday about Spotify changing their terms in order to ban users using adblockers. So it appears that up until now,…

Maybe not spelled out as such, but in section 8 under rights a user provides to Spotify, the ability to serve ads to you is there. At least in the US terms. No idea for other countries.

See my other other answer about that. It's not relevant in this context.

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

#900

Post by scotty79 »

nojvek wrote: post #796
heynk wrote: post #510

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've paid for Spotify for a while, so its been some time since I've heard an ad. But from what I remember, if you put the volume below ~30%, the ad pauses.

Yeah it was black mirror style. You had to listen to the goddamn ad. I used to take off the earphones when the ad played. It was an annoying enough experience. Although I mostly upgraded to paid option for the high bit rate audio. Music sounds so much crispier. Making users pay for no ads may not be enough to nudge them over. Offering a premium pro is definitely a viable model.

> It was an annoying enough experience.

For me it was annoying enough to stop using spotify.

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