Can’t even seek through songs.

  • BraveSirZaphod@kbin.social
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    2
    ·
    9 months ago

    https://medium.com/brain-labs/why-spotify-struggles-to-make-money-from-music-streaming-ba940fc56ebd

    For anyone wanting to rage at Spotify, I’d remind you that Spotify has never actually turned a profit. They lose money on every single paid user, and even more on free users. Tl;dr of the article (sorry for the account-wall) is that Spotify is contractually obligated to give around 70% of every dollar it makes to the labels, who then eat most of it and give a few crumbs to the artists. If you want to support artists, buy their merch, their physical albums, and go to their shows. If they’re independent, they may actually see some non-trivial revenue from streaming as well.

    Spotify may also be contractually restricted in what level of access they can offer for free - licensing can be very messy - and they also do need to create enough incentive to actually make the paid tier worth it. Given that a month of access to essentially all music ever costs about as much as a single CD did back in the day, it feels like pretty incredible value to me, personally. Yes, you can of course always pirate if you want to deal with the hassle of that, but you should at least keep it in the back of your mind that, if everyone did that, we wouldn’t have any music to enjoy at all. If the cost of streaming or buying music is genuinely a burden, I wouldn’t blame you that much for pirating, but if you can afford it, I do think the value really is there, if only to avoid the sheer hassle of pirating and managing a local library. And if you really think that streaming is just uniquely corrupt and terrible, CDs haven’t gone anywhere.

    But if you can easily afford to pay for music and you still refuse to, at least have the honesty to just admit that you want to get things for free and you don’t care about anyone involved in creating it getting paid for it, without dressing it up as some kind of morally righteous anti-capitalist crusade. It’s normal to be annoyed about having to pay for things; we all are, and we all want to get things for free. Just admit that instead of pretending your true motivation is anything deeper.

    • Maalus@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      0
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      9 months ago

      This is such a lame excuse. If the company never turned a profit - they shouldn’t exist anymore. Not shittify their service till nobody uses it.

  • acceptable_pumpkin@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    0
    ·
    9 months ago

    I have the family premium plan and honestly love it. I haven’t downloaded an mp3 in years because Spotify is so convenient. As far as subscription services go, this one is top tier for me.

    Now when we look at movie streaming… well that’s what the music streaming could have been like. What an absolute mess.

    • optissima@possumpat.io
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      0
      ·
      edit-2
      9 months ago

      Looking forward to when you wake up and realize that you’re just emptily shilling for a company that would happily take your money while refusing features.

      • acceptable_pumpkin@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        0
        ·
        edit-2
        9 months ago

        Not sure how this is emptily shilling though. Am I paying for a service? Yes. Will I stop paying for a service if they start “refusing features?” Also yes.

        Like I said in another comment, I was happy with Netflix back in the day, but now, nope. I have self hosted alternatives.

        If a service is not worth it for me, I stop paying. Different people have that line at different levels, and for me, today’s Spotify Premium is worth it. In the future it may not be.

        No need to be so hostile.

        • papertowels@lemmy.one
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          0
          ·
          9 months ago

          We are all here on Lemmy because we see the value in self hosting and free & open source software.

          However even here, people have the need to antagonize each other and call each other corporate shills.

          Maybe a peek behind the curtain of human nature.

  • BonesOfTheMoon@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    0
    ·
    9 months ago

    I don’t know why anyone would give Spotify money when they pay Joe Rogan to spread vaccine disinformation and union bust.

    I use YouTube music. It’s far inferior to what Google Play Music was, which was literally perfect, but it’s not Spotify and I really think it does mixes best of all. Apple Music is so very Caucasian, I gave it a shot but it just comes back to the whitest music possible every time.