The other day, a friend plugged his ipod to his stereo saying with a big smile, “I’ve got Spotify! I never have to buy music again!” I had questions about what he meant with “never having to buy music again,” but was was lazy and did not want a rant about the miracle of Spotify.
Truth is, there are so many trends (SoundCloud, Youtube, Napster, Groovershark, etc) that it’s hard for me to tell the difference between all of them except for the fact that I can listen to songs for free. Also, many of the above mentioned are no longer as easy as they used to be with commercials and limited amounts of time in regards to how many times you can hear a song. How many times CAN you listen to a song? I think I must have listened to that new Robin Thicke (feat. T.I. & Pharrell) probably fifty times in the last three days.
After reading this BBC article, I got a better idea of how Spotify is different. It’s really sad the enormous difference between the paid Spotify subscribers and those that just ride the free wave. It’s even more pathetic to find out how many cents (literally) they make every time you play that tune. This explains why so many artists and bands are going back to the old fashioned hard road of touring the USA or the world non stop, it must gain better revenue than to wait around for those cents to add up. But for those that can’t afford those expensive concert tickets, how will the artists (especially the less famous) profit from their genius and our pleasure?
It doesn’t surprise me that Thom Yorke is the one being vocal about this and pulling out of Spotify. The front man of one of the most important bands (Radiohead) in alternative-rock history has always been outspoken. At the same time (as the article points out), Radiohead along with many other very famous bands and artists did things like “pay as you want” or giving away albums for free as major “fuck y’all” to the music labels. So what has changed? Why the sudden regress, regret or anger?
This article really gives insight to both sides of the story. You decide. h/t BBC
