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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

#41

Post by moate »

ox_cable wrote: post #26
sidyapa wrote: post #7

This is a good move. Even though ads are annoying and frustrating at most times it is not anybody's birth-right to use a product/service for free and block their sources of revenue. If they have a pay-to-remove-ads option, use it.

While I'm sure I'm in the minority, I absolutely do have the birthright to control what content appears on my device. If they want to prevent ads from being blocked, blocking me from using their service is 100% fine by me.

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't want to associate with these kind of people anyway..." which feels disingenuous.

I think you really just don't care that much about using spotify, which is a perfectly cromulent opinion.

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

#43

Post by YayamiOmate »

sinstein wrote: post #17
krn wrote: post #11

What about the Brave browser[1], which works at the application level? Or Blokada[2], which works at the OS level? Or Pi-Hole[3], which works at the network level? [1] https://brave.com [2] https://blokada.org [3] https://pi-hole.net

As someone mentioned in another comment, I don't think they will care about how the ads are being blocked. As long as you are bypassing ads, you are in breach of their TOS.

Yea, but there is no way to distinct why ads don't reach the target, and as it's worded, they can't block service for technical difficulties but for intentional behaviour.

I haven't seen even if they specified whether it must be the account user or not. E.g. your network host or isp can do it.

So that seems interesting, unless they can do it on a whim anyways and dont have to prove anything. Though they could just say, "no free service if we cant serve ads".

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

#44

Post by stronglikedan »

slouch wrote: post #22
isostatic wrote: post #8

I assume this only applies to the free version of spotify

They have a web player linked from the bottom of their home page, and ad blockers work while using it.

Are you sure that's for paid accounts? I'm using it right now on a browser with no ad blocker and I don't get ads.

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

#45

Post by kryogen1c »

nathanaldensr wrote: post #34
dessant wrote: post #13

They allow advertisers to run JS on your device, and ads are a trendy way to deliver malware. People are using ad blockers not just to hide annoyances and to improve performance, but to protect themselves from bad actors. https://spotifyforbrands.com/en-US/ad-experiences/ > JavaScript or iFrame Tags: All third-party tags and tracking URLs need to be in https format. I was on the fence about this because there is a le…

" We can push anything we want to your device but don't you dare try to block it. That's a Terms of Service Violation ." Well, it was nice knowing you Spotify.

Yeah not to be glib, but that would be a deal breaker for me too.

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

#46

Post by joombaga »

Laforet wrote: post #10
ocdtrekkie wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Probably, since most ad blocker detection can't tell the difference, and the difference is irrelevant to an ad vendor anyways.

This is going to end badly. What if the ISP or corporate network have their own domain blacklists?

Their users would not be in violation of the TOS.

> The following is not permitted for any reason whatsoever:

...

> 10. circumventing or blocking advertisements in the Spotify Service, or creating or distributing tools designed to block advertisements in the Spotify Service;

https://www.spotify.com/us/legal/end-user-agreement/

The user in this case would not be responsible for the blocking.

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

#47

Post by hiccuphippo »

chatmasta wrote: post #37
nixpulvis wrote: post #20

Considering how services like Spotify and Apple Music incourage extra data usage, and randomally delete music as they see fit, I'm finding myself thinking more and more of these services as discovery tools (akin to radio) and less like media players (they aren't). One day very soon I'll be playing all my music in something else entirely again. While it's impossible to brush off the value of streaming services like Sp…

You can make songs available offline, meaning they're saved on your device. Not sure what else you could ask for, unless your problem is actually with DRM, not data usage.

Can't they delete it from your device if so they wanted?

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

#48

Post by slouch »

nixpulvis wrote: post #20

Considering how services like Spotify and Apple Music incourage extra data usage, and randomally delete music as they see fit, I'm finding myself thinking more and more of these services as discovery tools (akin to radio) and less like media players (they aren't). One day very soon I'll be playing all my music in something else entirely again. While it's impossible to brush off the value of streaming services like Sp…

Bandcamp has a lot of great music but draws independent artists and small labels by a large margin. Their app and website sort of totally suck, but it's not a subscription model, they promote the buying and downloading of albums.

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

#49

Post by redsky17 »

bad_user wrote: post #39
redsky17 wrote: post #29

The only reason I use an ad-blocker with Spotify in the first place is that they have an abundance of NSFW ads that play. I'm not really comfortable with Trojan advertisements while I'm sitting in the office plugging away. It's definitely their right to deny service if people are freeloading... but there could be other people like me who wouldn't use an ad blocker in the first place (on Spotify, at least) if the ads…

Then why don’t you pay for a subscription? If you keep listening to Spotify, surely it brings you value. I know I’m getting value from it. I listen to music all day at work and personally I don’t have many services that I use so often.

So the reason for that has more to do with my corporate firewall than anything. I do pay for subscription services that I enjoy more than Spotify (currently, Google Play Music and Tidal). However, I cannot have a phone at work, so I can't log into GPM (2FA requires the phone), and Tidal is blocked for other reasons. So that basically just leaves Spotify. I don't want to pay for a third subscription service that I only use for a few hours per day tops.

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

#50

Post by sigmar »

MorrisofOrange wrote: post #25

But can they block me muting the ads?

I use an app to mute my android device's volume when "advertisement" appears in the "now playing" notification. For the past 4-6 weeks I've noticed Spotify will sometimes 'fail' to accurately update the "now playing" notification. I brushed it off as a bug, but this ToS makes me wonder if they are collecting device volume (which they can definitely do in android) and perhaps testing to see if I'm using the notifications to auto-mute? [puts on tinfoil hat]
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