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Goodbye Spotify
21–30 of 102 posts
Re: Goodbye Spotify
#22I have music on Spotify that I will be removing as well because of their decision not to pay out small artist streams under a certain amount. I pay a distributor (distrokid) to send out music, and do not have a direct agreement with Spotify. As far as I'm concerned, monetizing my music without my consent is theft. Their argument is that the stream amount is so low it ends up not being worth the transaction. On a mora…
For those of us who don't know about the threshold and might think it's something outrageous -- it's 1000 streams, which translates to ~$3.
Re: Goodbye Spotify
#23Listen deeper, listen more and you will help artists more than cancelling your subscription. I don't know what artists at the new cutoff were making but its not a living wage, and I doubt it's even beer money. The unknown artists will never get paid if you don't listen and find them. That's what Spotify is great at. Once you find the small artist, seek them out, buy some merch, see a show. Drive an hour further than you normally would. That's what supporting an artist looks like, not cancelling your Spotify subscription.
Re: Goodbye Spotify
#24I have music on Spotify that I will be removing as well because of their decision not to pay out small artist streams under a certain amount. I pay a distributor (distrokid) to send out music, and do not have a direct agreement with Spotify. As far as I'm concerned, monetizing my music without my consent is theft. Their argument is that the stream amount is so low it ends up not being worth the transaction. On a mora…
A small correction, from the article mentioned in the post, the $40m is not going to Spotify, it is going to the other artists with more than 1000 streams annually.
Re: Goodbye Spotify
#25Music consumption has basically never been in a better place. What Spotify pays artists, and how many employees at Bandcamp get laid off are minor, in the big picture. My music consumption goes something like this: 1) Queue up a known band on Spotify. See what else similar to them Spotify puts into a playlist 2) Listen to the new music, decide what I like or don't like 3) Head over to Bandcamp or Discogs with the stu…
> Music has never been in a better place.
I have to agree. I’m 66 years old. When I was in my late teens, I was intensely into music and doing my best to explore and learn about a variety of genres.
It was hard. I couldn’t afford to buy many albums, the music played on the radio was limited, and the only way to hear obscure music that I had read about was to go to a large public or university library and hope that they might have the records in their collection.
Now I can listen to nearly any music I want to with just a few clicks. There are also many great streaming channels for discovering music I didn’t know about—I particularly like BBC Sounds, especially Radio 3. My 19-year-old self never could have dreamt of such riches.
Re: Goodbye Spotify
#26I recently said goodbye to Spotify as well. I tried Apple Music and found it sounded significantly better. The muddy quality I am used to with Spotify was gone and I’ve been enjoying music ever since. I really thought there was something wrong with me prior to this. I don’t know if it is the different codecs they use or what. I haven’t even tried the lossless audio yet on Apple Music. So it is just comparing the lossy to lossy.
I’m also glad to be on an app that doesn’t try to constantly push podcasts on me.
Re: Goodbye Spotify
#27Even though I would like Spotify to pay artists decently, I'll keep paying for it mainly for their recommendations and discovery features.
If you only listen to music you already know you like, then sure Bandcamp or whatever is amazing for the artist.
But personally, I just launch my "liked" playlist and use their enrich feature to fill in titles. Or use their thematic playlist generations that use a genre but take into account what I already liked of this genre.
Though if someone showed me an alternative with discovery features that work as good as this and pays artists decently I'd switch instantly.
Re: Goodbye Spotify
#28I have music on Spotify that I will be removing as well because of their decision not to pay out small artist streams under a certain amount. I pay a distributor (distrokid) to send out music, and do not have a direct agreement with Spotify. As far as I'm concerned, monetizing my music without my consent is theft. Their argument is that the stream amount is so low it ends up not being worth the transaction. On a mora…
Sounds like your beef should be with Distrokid not Spotify.
Unfortunately, this is actually a problem because of the legacy format of distribution for music. In order to add contact to classic music sales platforms like iTunes, you needed to go through a music distribution platform. CDBaby is a good example of an older 2010s company that offered similar services.
When streaming became an option, music distribution platforms that appeal to a lower barrier of entry became more popular.
If the industry were refreshed today, it would make more sense to directly upload content directly to the streaming platform, like Apple Music or Spotify, just like we do with social networks.
Unfortunately, this put Spotify in a weird position because while they are a distributor, they are a secondary distributor. Unlike YouTube, or other platforms that directly host the content. (yes, I know they're hosting the audio files, but they are still secondary, because distro kid is primary).
Again, I pay for distro kid, everyone who uploads music to platforms, pays their distributor. So unfortunately, it's more complex than monetization and ownership rates around content on YouTube or something like that.
Re: Goodbye Spotify
#29I don't think any band out there has any excuse not to spend literally minutes to set up an online store (using Shopify or whatever else) and put their music up for sale directly. If they don't, and rely on iTunes/Spotify etc., or sign with a major label, then you as a fan aren't obligated to go out of your way to still look for avenues to support them.
Re: Goodbye Spotify
#30I like Pandora's music stations (playing music like an artist), and reports are apparently that it is better than others for that But they pay little to the artists. What do you use?
Qobuz. Amazon's insistence to push podcasts in my face, including in search results, have finally overcame my customer apathy and I switched, just like Google's insistence to push Youtube Music in my face pushed me to go to Amazon Music.
I've seen claims that they pay artists better than anyone else besides Tidal, but I've seen no official statements.