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The day I canceled my Spotify subscription

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Re: The day I canceled my Spotify subscription

#351

Post by richrichardsson »

platelminto wrote: post #6

I'm also not a fan of the direction Spotify is going, but if I want to keep listening to music, I don't see a way around it - and I don't think other music services are materially different. I support the artists I care about most by going to their concerts and/or buying merch. I use services like last.fm for better discovery. Spotify doesn't have to be the only way you interact with music. The author doesn't say how…

> I don't think other music services are materially different.

I'm afraid you thought incorrectly, the following is true for basically every other service available:

* Better quality sound

* Payout to content creators is higher

* Cheaper

The nail in the coffin for me (as a consumer) was Ek's €100m A.I. arms tech investment.

The nail in the coffin for me as a content creator is likely going to be the new 1000 streams per song before getting ANY royalties; will have to see how it plays out, but I'm not having my music on that shitty platform if they're going to profit from it without recompense.

Re: The day I canceled my Spotify subscription

#352

Post by usrusr »

jsnell wrote: post #265
usrusr wrote: post #224

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Those per country pools are an interesting tool: being as German as I happen to be, my natural reaction to subscriber share (this seems to be the established term for weighted by utilization?) is "can't do that, because Data Protection". We do like to imagine that it should in some miraculous way be possible to use streaming without the streaming provider knowing what we stream, and that Bad Things Will Happen if tha…

There's no chance that this is blocked by data protection laws. This is looks exactly like the kind of case where data can be collected and processed without consent, since it's needed to operate the service and meet the contractual obligations of paying the musicians the right amount. (And that doesn't mean that they could keep the data indefinitely or use it for other purposes without consent.)

Heh, I don't even doubt the legality, I was talking purely about subjective expectations, about how it feels to us.

Re: The day I canceled my Spotify subscription

#353

Post by swozey »

jbgt wrote: post #188
vintermann wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> My entire strategy was based on going to a record store and buying whatever had appealing cover art in the metal section. And I did this A LOT. By doing this, you supported the bands you liked, and supported experimentation by accidentally subsidizing a lot of bands which didn't turn out so great (at the very least, experimentation in cool album covers...) But you don't actually do that on Spotify. As the article c…

Weren't we all complaining 20 y ago that music labels were giving bands pennies on the dollar and the only way they could actually live off of the music was by touring and selling merch? I think Radiohead then did the groundbreaking selling of mp3s for a pay what you want fee. Now the baddie is Spotify.

It was also when CDs were $19.99-25 which I distinctly remember because I was 10 in 1995 when I bought my first CDs (smash, it was written, dookie) and I could rarely afford to buy them.

And then artists still weren't getting paid but an even bigger portion of my income went to them. shrug.

Re: The day I canceled my Spotify subscription

#354

Post by wjnc »

Reubachi wrote: post #271
vintermann wrote: post #228

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You were supporting Sony, EMI, Universal, Warner, or some other record label. For fringe metal music? Not likely!

By "fringe metal", they're likely talking about mainstream thrash and groove metal. And those bands where on these exact labels; Reign in blood - Def Jam (1986) Pantera - Atco /WB (1986) Megadeth - Capital (1986) Sepultura - Roadrunner/WB (1989) Anthrax - Island/Universal (1985)

This does read like a slight snark (the step from 'fringe' to 'mainstream' - who wants to be mainstream?). It further emphasises the point that in the 80s and early 90s looking for non-local 'long tail' music as a youth was pretty much impossible. Especially if / when too young for bars and concerts, all you could find had to be signed on mainstream labels. I had the luck in that I could go to local concerts, thus discovering local talent (and buying their cassette tapes). You needed venues and allowing parents for that. Currently listening to several artists with < 500 streamers a month on Spotify. Nothing in the 80s and 90s can compare with that discoverability.

Re: The day I canceled my Spotify subscription

#355

Post by [deleted] »

mittermayr wrote: post #32

> Instead, my subscription is probably pooled according to some black box formula and ends up paid to some of their top performers like Beyoncé, Taylor Swift, or The Weeknd. While the indie artist I have been obsessed with gets literally nothing because they don’t meet a certain arbitrary threshold. Well, as a musician myself, I often feel a bit conflicted reading statements like these. After all, as uncomfortable as…

[deleted]

Re: The day I canceled my Spotify subscription

#356

Post by seanw444 »

wolframhempel wrote: post #85

I believe, Spotify is pretty much the best thing ever. I understand the criticism - but to me, this is just a sign of how far we've come. I was born in 1984 and, from a very early age, was really into Metal. That was a problem - since there were literally zero ways to discover new songs. The radio and MTV didn't play Metal. None of my friends shared my taste in Music. The listening stations at HMV & Co (remember thos…

I love fast-paced, riff-focused metal. I didn't find out until I got Spotify that that genre was called thrash metal. I absolutely would not have found all the albums and artists I listen to daily without Spotify. It's one of the few proprietary apps I don't mind on my phone and PC.

Re: The day I canceled my Spotify subscription

#357

Post by jasonjmcghee »

probably_wrong wrote: post #206
Xeyz0r wrote: post #173

Spotify has removed several popular features over the years, such as the ability to view lyrics while listening to music and the option to sort playlists by date added. These changes have angered many users. Spotify's recommendation algorithms have been criticized for becoming less personalized and more repetitive. While Spotify remains one of the most popular music streaming services, it is clear that many users are…

Is this comment auto-generated?

Take a look at their comment history- so many are clearly LLM. Oddly they claim it isn't, when they are called out. Very odd. Why bother commenting at all? Certainly won't get karma.

Re: The day I canceled my Spotify subscription

#358

Post by jncfhnb »

aramndrt wrote: post #340
jncfhnb wrote: post #336

I find the complaints kind of lame. I don’t like the podcasts, but it’s very easy to not click on the podcasts. The music recs vary over time but music is a diamond in the rough thing. Every niche band I listen to is from a chance find on Spotify and that’s cool. Power user tools for exploring stuff would be cool

No, you are simply more accepting of a certain interface being pushed onto you. I find the podcasts incredibly frustrating because I like to keep my interfaces streamlined and minimalistic. I would much rather have my homepage focused on my content than a bunch of podcasts I don't care to listen to and a bunch of playlists in which I have no interest. In my opinion, the app is frustratingly bloated. Your opinion is v…

Shrug. I click search, and the search is good. It also quickly suggests New Releases which is the only playlist I care to explore.

Re: The day I canceled my Spotify subscription

#359

Post by pton_xd »

UweSchmidt wrote: post #328
Kiro wrote: post #184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, but it was at least 20 years ago so please remind me.

Winamp is a lightweight program that runs on your personal computer, loading files or folders of mp3s and other audio files that you own/control. The UI is pleasant, stable, customizable, responsive. Nothing will trigger the user's attention, no recommendations, UI changes or updates. No attempt to sell or monetize anything. No surveillance or tracking.

No login, no profile, no account management. Some light-hearted humor. Man, those were the days.

Re: The day I canceled my Spotify subscription

#360

Post by the_other »

master-lincoln wrote: post #185
jchw wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you've over-complicated this, or at least missed the point by quite a lot. The question is extremely simple: Why should I pay money to listen to music I like, and then that money goes to music and artists I've never and never will listen to? I don't care how much money top performers want. If I am going to spend money on music, it should go to artists that I actually listen to. And it does, because I buy musi…

> if I go into a record store and buy a CD or record or something, that's what I paid for, that's what it goes to. Hell, even if I watch a monetized video on YouTube Premium, a portion of my subscription money goes to that creator. In your examples, money goes to right holders, not necessarily content creators. That was true in CD-age and is true on Youtube. A big distinction to make I think

True, but for the most part, the rights holders will be the labels representing the artists, and they'll have some kind of deal in play, so if you squint the artist still gets paid.

Sure, many label-artist deals are bad. But that's a different issue, and putting Spotify into the mix doesn't change the situation. Spotify is still paying the rights holders.

The only artists who aren't getting paid at all are the aging ones who sold all their rights to some conglomerates (Bob Dylan etc). They got paid via a normal record deal in the past, then they got some rights back after the old deals expired, then they sold their rights again for a lump sum and no promise of a return of the rights. Today, these artists get paid by their retirement portfolios not their music rights.

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