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Spotify under threat?

Je ne comprends pas how Spotify works

My parents told me there was no such thing as a free lunch.

Can someone explain to me why artists and record labels allow streaming of music on spotify. Are whole artist dicographies available on there? How do the artists get paid? Is it some sort of loophole...how do you broadcast vast amounts of music if its not on a pay per listen basis...do spotify make money on subscriptions and advertising?

I need it explained in ABC terms.

Anyway Im waiting for lossless downloads on i tunes
 
I think the idea is that people gravitate from the low quality free service to the better quality £10 a month service. Trouble is, once you offer something for free......
 
Minstrel SE said:
Je ne comprends pas how Spotify works

My parents told me there was no such thing as a free lunch.

Can someone explain to me why artists and record labels allow streaming of music on spotify. Are whole artist dicographies available on there? How do the artists get paid? Is it some sort of loophole...how do you broadcast vast amounts of music if its not on a pay per listen basis...do spotify make money on subscriptions and advertising?

I need it explained in ABC terms.

Anyway Im waiting for lossless downloads on i tunes
Click to expand...

It is known as 'freemium'.

You get Spotify for free, but at lower quality settings, without all the bells and whistles, and with occasional adverts between songs. Or, you pay a premium, get it at higher quality, can download as well as stream, and no adverts.

The idea is if enough users coughed up for the premium service (anywhere between five and ten per cent was originally bandied about), and there were enough users to justify good advertisement rates, it would pay for itself. Trouble is, there are never enough premium users (it now has 1/4 of its 60m users as paid subscribers), and advertisers have never been that happy paying good rates to advertise to people too mean or poor to buy the premium service. So, it's reputed to have lost $200m since it started up in 2008.

Perhaps this is why the latest model involves running to venture capitalists. Again.
 
It will be interesting to see what happens if there is no reasonable free to the user streaming service supported by ads. What will the large proportion of the population do that are not prepared to pay? Turn away from streaming, create a pirate bay streaming service, go back to collecting their own library, listen to the radio,...
 
People will just cough up for a paid version. This, ladies is the bait and switch and is what the industry has been hoping for which is migration of paid subscription services. They have never liked ad revenue from free handouts because that is managed by a model not unlike radio licensing. Actual pay per play is a wholly different financial structure.

Remember the big three labels consolidated are majority shareholders of Spotify and they have not liked this free business for a very long time. Apple is the excuse they needed, and Apple knows this and is playing the obvious gambit: they want to first level the playing field for Apple before owning it. Apple just killed a untenable business model. Why should Wonga or Liposuction adverts pay me the revenues for my music?

Despite being easier than piracy Spotify has had a negligible effect on piracy, almost none in fact, but what it has done is insinuated itself into culture such that the idea of mom and pops, not just tech savvy geeks paying £20 a month for the music they listen to seems like a pretty good option and hey, no ads! Now cough up!
 
If the end result is the artists start getting paid proper money, or something closer to it then all to the good IMO.
 
Tony L said:
If the end result is the artists start getting paid proper money, or something closer to it then all to the good IMO.
Click to expand...

This has nothing to do with artists getting paid - sure, there will be a smoke screen based on this concept, but let's face it, this is just big companies jostling to try and tie up the music delivery business.
 
TheDecameron said:
Are you saying that while Im listening to Bizet, I'll get "step down to big Des's carpet and tile warehouse this weekend" at full volume?
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That's pretty much the top and bottom of it yes... Or if you only want to use it on a computer at lower bit rate, you can pay £5 a month for unlimited, add free access. £10 gets you up to 320kbps and allows you to use it on mobile devices/streaming devices and allows you to create off line playlists.

I pay the £10 a month and use it to create off line playlists on my phone which I then Bluetooth to my car stereo, it's worth the £10 for that alone IMO.
 
TheDecameron said:
Are you saying that while Im listening to Bizet, I'll get "step down to big Des's carpet and tile warehouse this weekend" at full volume?
Click to expand...

Not only that but "If it matters to you, it matters to Digby Brown solicitors"

or "Get the Papa, Papa John two for one Tuesday pizza deal using only the finest ingredients"

Or you can sing along to "Sell your car Scotland dot com". The ads are always the best part.
 
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