Spotify

[Grind]

This shit is honestly the future.

 

Basically its like having access to an iTunes account with infinite music selections / the entire back catalogue of recorded albums. You can search for an artist, sort by albums/tracks etc, make playlists, save and share them… only thing is you don't own the "physical" music file, it's all streamed.

 

The free version is funded by advertising. The premium versions have no ads, but you pay a monthly subscription fee (by all accounts, worth it).

 

I've been using it over the past week or so and it hasn't skipped a beat…pretty much finds anything you could get on iTunes/Amazon, the streaming quality is very, very good and the interface is easy to use and easy on the eye.

 

It's been a long time coming… I remember when I studied Music Industry/Technology papers at uni like 7 years ago, cloud-based music subscription services were being talked about being the next big thing.

 

Say goodbye to Youtube DJ parties where everyone's queuing up to play songs in shit quality with buffering issues… once everyone's got Spotify you'll be able to search for entire albums/playlists and stream 'em off the cuff.

 

Not sure when it hits NZ – probably not too far off. Keep an eye out!

[perceptualChaos]

How are you using it? I tried to sign up the other day after my British friend recommended it to me, looks so awesome. There doesn't seem to be a way to use it in NZ or Japan yet though.

[Nato]

Grindage moved to Sydney. Quite a drastic move just to get Spotify imo.

[Grind]

Grindage moved to Sydney. Quite a drastic move just to get Spotify imo.

 

 

Got access to a Premium version through someone at work - think it's a market trial version or something - not publically available just here yet either. Friends in UK are using it hard-out though.

[Known One]

Can't say I like the idea of paying for music I don't get to own. You could spend hundreds/thousands on spotify and eventually end up with nothing... akin to renting a house all your life. Doesn't sit with me.

 

Although, for parties etc it would be mean like you say... just having access to the massive catalogue for such occasions would be mean. But I digress... would much rather have a cloud based music streaming service at a reasonable cost per track. Google Music/iTunes seems to be getting close to that, but you can't access the Google Market here and you can't download your song collection so you have to maintain two copies... one on disk and one in the cloud AFAIK.

[penco]

Can't say I like the idea of paying for music I don't get to own. You could spend hundreds/thousands on spotify and eventually end up with nothing... akin to renting a house all your life. Doesn't sit with me.

 

 

nail on the head

[Grind]

I'm the same, as I like to "own" the physical files too, but I think its a generational thing and because we're probably more involved with music compared to the average joe.

 

As the world moves into an age where internet is "always on" and pretty much everything is digitally connected, I doubt people will remember the need to actually own a "solid" file on disc... especially the younger generation, and the more casual listeners..

[Known One]

Problem with that idea is that Subscription services by design will never allow users to share/obtain copies of music for redistribution as it conflicts with the core ideal of a subscription streaming service. With that in mind, there's the related issue that Spotify and similar services will never have a complete catalogue of released music. Music labels will never be consolidated to the point where all music ever released is available. Indy labels, small startups, labels releasing to certain geographic regions first or doing deals with companies for exclusive distribution... etc... just not ever going to happen.

 

With that in mind, music retains it's value as a thing which is owned, purely because of the distribution issues. If you can't obtain something on a whim, it retains value.

 

Will be interesting to see what the Grandkids do though. You could be right. My guess is that they will still own their own copies of Tracks but have access to stream music on demand as well.

[lobotomy]

As the world moves into an age where internet is "always on" and pretty much everything is digitally connected, I doubt people will remember the need to actually own a "solid" file on disc... especially the younger generation, and the more casual listeners..

 

true

and sux

 

these times are changing

 

where's my hoverboard marty?

[Grind]

Problem with that idea is that Subscription services by design will never allow users to share/obtain copies of music for redistribution as it conflicts with the core ideal of a subscription streaming service.

 

Not sure I get this. I can "share" or "redistribute" an album through Spotify through social media (or within the platform itself) and if my mate played my "shared" version of the media, the royalties would still trickle to the label-owner (it uses DRM or something similar)

 

With that in mind, there's the related issue that Spotify and similar services will never have a complete catalogue of released music. Music labels will never be consolidated to the point where all music ever released is available. Indy labels, small startups, labels releasing to certain geographic regions first or doing deals with companies for exclusive distribution... etc... just not ever going to happen.

 

What about iTunes? Same challenges there and look how successful they are.

 

Right now with Spotify btw, you do also have the option to purchase mp3s of the tracks, and import your existing iTunes or whatever into the interface.. I'm just not sure there'll be a big consumer need to do this in say 15 years

 

And I'm not sure if you can actually do it yet - but there could easily be a system where DIY music/label-owners could log in & upload their own content, share it and receive dividends each time it was played...

[perceptualChaos]

Can't say I like the idea of paying for music I don't get to own. You could spend hundreds/thousands on spotify and eventually end up with nothing... akin to renting a house all your life. Doesn't sit with me.

 

I disagree with this thinking, it seems a bit like saying you don't believe in libraries or subscription TV. I don't have a problem with subscription services, as long as it is significantly cheaper than buying everything and you still have the option to buy a hardcopy from a different supplier. Spotify looks awesome to me and I will be trying it out as soon as it available.

[Nato]

Yeah you just need to think of it not as being your music collection, but as a pay-to-use radio station that plays all your requests. As long as it's cheap enough I don't see a problem with it but I will always be buying and building my own music library. Spotify would be something to listen to when I'm not actively sitting down just to listen to music.

[Known One]

With that in mind, there's the related issue that Spotify and similar services will never have a complete catalogue of released music. Music labels will never be consolidated to the point where all music ever released is available. Indy labels, small startups, labels releasing to certain geographic regions first or doing deals with companies for exclusive distribution... etc... just not ever going to happen.

 

What about iTunes? Same challenges there and look how successful they are.

 

I've always found iTunes to be a poor distribution platform... past issues of DRM and current issue of unfair profit distribution to artists... also to distribute music through them (assuming you are not signed) the hoops to jump through are plentiful. But that wasn't the point I made, my point was that a lot of music is not available on iTunes. I assume that the same would happen with any major distribution platform.

 

I can't see Spotify having such a vast music Catalogue that I could hear some song online elsewhere and 100% of the time, find it on Spotify. Ain't going to happen.

[Known One]

Can't say I like the idea of paying for music I don't get to own. You could spend hundreds/thousands on spotify and eventually end up with nothing... akin to renting a house all your life. Doesn't sit with me.

 

I disagree with this thinking, it seems a bit like saying you don't believe in libraries or subscription TV. I don't have a problem with subscription services, as long as it is significantly cheaper than buying everything and you still have the option to buy a hardcopy from a different supplier. Spotify looks awesome to me and I will be trying it out as soon as it available.

 

You don't pay for the library... and yea, I don't "believe in" subscription TV. Amen.

 

I'm not saying that Spotify isn't a great idea... I'm merely explaining why I probably won't be using it.

[perceptualChaos]

Can't say I like the idea of paying for music I don't get to own. You could spend hundreds/thousands on spotify and eventually end up with nothing... akin to renting a house all your life. Doesn't sit with me.

 

I disagree with this thinking, it seems a bit like saying you don't believe in libraries or subscription TV. I don't have a problem with subscription services, as long as it is significantly cheaper than buying everything and you still have the option to buy a hardcopy from a different supplier. Spotify looks awesome to me and I will be trying it out as soon as it available.

 

You don't pay for the library... and yea, I don't "believe in" subscription TV. Amen.

 

I'm not saying that Spotify isn't a great idea... I'm merely explaining why I probably won't be using it.

 

well you pay for the library through your taxes, and some libraries do operate on a user pays basis. Fair enough if you prefer to pay to own everything though, I'm just stoked at the idea of soon not having to pirate music or listen to shitty youtube rips anymore when I'm checking out new music.

[Grind]

^ It's awesome for checking out / researching new music.

 

For eg; I just realised this morning that I know fuck-all of Erikah Badu's music, and also D'angelo's. So I clicked onto Spotify at work and have been listening to various albums of theirs all day through a high quality stream...

[Known One]

well you pay for the library through your taxes

 

well, no... I don't pay Rates.

 

If you had to pay to rent your books from the public library, directly... then it would be a fair comparison. It's all I'm saying, don't think we need reminding that we all pay for the library indirectly... it's kinda beyond the point.