mort: Opinions On Spotify?

FromDaHood 12.23.11	All I know is that Motion City Soundtrack has made a penny off me listening to Everything is Alright. I'd hate it if I was an artist but I love it as a consumer.
mort 12.23.11	If you use it is a tool for exposure, it can help you make money in loads of different areas, as an artist there is no point in signing up with the intention of making money, you have to look at it differently I think.
JWT155 12.23.11	I love it.
mort 12.23.11	Me too, I use it as more as a search engine for new artists, its not even too good at that either, but its quick. Im trying to think of a general view, not one thats just personal to you, look at it as a whole.
jefflebowski 12.23.11	if you think anything less than FLAC is 'horrible' quality, a sense of perspective is sorely required
clercqie 12.23.11	"If you use it is a tool for exposure, it can help you make money in loads of different areas, as an artist there is no point in signing up with the intention of making money, you have to look at it differently I think. " This. Artists shouldn't see it as a primary income source, but - like the radio - as a means to get their music noticed. They don't get much money out of it, but it's better than nothing when people download their stuff. Fans and costumers who want to invest in their favorite bands through buying albums, going to shows etc. won't stop doing that, if they use Spotify. And the others wouldn't have bought an album if the service wasn't available to them.
mort 12.23.11	Yeah, it can only really be negative to someone if they're of the old hat belief that people should still buy legally and never consume in any other way, thats all gone. I prefer to mix it up, buy cd's/ vinyls, go to gigs, buy shit loads of merch and illegally download.
JWT155 12.23.11	For artists who make a majority of their cash from touring Spotify is a god send. I'd say 90% of artists want their name to get out there by any means and have people come to their show and buy their albums/merch there. Any artist in the mainstream and has top 40 singles is hurt by Spotify, artists like Gaga.
taylormemer 12.23.11	Just so you know baseline if you were a true ap you'd have everything either SACD DSD or uncompressed wav. FLAC is not as "fully lossless" as the name implies. Peace
mort 12.23.11	If they were truly hurt, they'd have the music off the database in an instant, if you're big enough to potentially lose money off it. you're big enough to have a label and admin to work out exactly what is best for you. The exposure still works well for huge artists, I see things popping up on my facebook all the time from huge artists, I pretty much always end up listening and that could easily turn into me going to a gig for an artist that I never would of thought of.
taylormemer 12.23.11	Yes back into your cave.
taylormemer 12.23.11	Sorry. Didn't mean to burst your bubble.
Blackbelt54 12.23.11	I just use it to try out music to see if I like it
ShousoStrip 12.23.11	It doesn't have Rebecca Black's Friday > sucks
JWT155 12.23.11	"If they were truly hurt, they'd have the music off the database in an instant, if you're big enough to potentially lose money off it. you're big enough to have a label and admin to work out exactly what is best for you. The exposure still works well for huge artists, I see things popping up on my facebook all the time from huge artists, I pretty much always end up listening and that could easily turn into me going to a gig for an artist that I never would of thought of." I disagree, I think artists like Lady Gaga lose a lot of money when plenty of gullible mainstream goody two shoes customers, who usually buy music, now listen to Spotify. Mainstream artists bank on the casual fan to buy their singles. While they may lose big on Spotify, they may lose even more if they gain negative publicity from pulling their music off of Spotify. For instance, Metallica went head on with Napster and arguably instead of curbing piracy and free access to their music only re-enforced it.
mort 12.23.11	Thats definitely a good point, It really depends if you think the negative effect that the normal CD buying people who now just exclusively use Spotify, is greater than the positive effect of outside promotion buy all the new users. To be honest, Im unsure, and its hard to know without exact figures, but you also have to bare in mind that huge amounts of the public who just download illegally (which has hardly any outside promotion) now use spotify, which has huge amounts through facebook alone.
Knott- 12.23.11	It's basically exposure. I can't count the number of times I've had the urge to check out an artist and they've been a click away on Spotify and as a result I've delved further into their back catalogue. I basically agree with mort's first post.
ShousoStrip 12.23.11	Without Spotify I'd download most of them anyway ;o
theacademy 12.23.11	http://www.sputnikmusic.com/list.php?memberid=317268&listid=90838 relevant to this discussion
theacademy 12.23.11	lol'd
mort 12.23.11	Good read, seem's most people dont understand the rate per stream (me included). Spotify need's some transparency.
theacademy 12.23.11	i think it's variable (negotiated separately for different sections of their catalog, and for different classes of subscriber)... that would make the most sense to me i think generally, THE EXPOSURE ARGUMENT DOESN'T WORK for me, if only because blogs + piracy just do a better job at it than spotify does. I think in the long run, it's worse for artists and better for labels. For listeners, i think the jury is still out...
mort 12.23.11	Yeah would explain some of the figures I've seen around. Blogs and piracy do well, but Id say hardly any of the general public actively use blogs and check up for new releases put up on them. Piracy functions basically like Spotify does, a radio. Just it has limitations. Would be great to see some traffic figures from facebook and spotify to get an idea of how much outside promotion and exposure is happening. Up until now we'll just have to speculate.
theacademy 12.23.11	last.fm does a pretty good job of that. Last.FM is such an untapped resource, think about it: 1) you have a sample population that is giving it's listening data to you 2) it happens to overlap with the most active illegal downloading population
mort 12.23.11	Yeah definitely, this is kind of what it is for me. Blog/Last.Fm/Sputnik/Word of mouth etc ----> Spotify/Bandcamp/Soundcloud/Facebook ----> Download ----> Cd/Vinyl/Gig/Merch etc etc
thumbcrusher 12.23.11	what deal do you get on soptify in the US now cause in the UK (and europe in general i think) they cut how much you could listen to a few months ago with the free version to 10 hours month and any song just 5 times. it had been 20 hours of otherwise limitless listening.
SnazSpaz 12.23.11	I love it, using it right now, highly suggest it!
mort 12.23.11	Yeah, luckily for me I hardly use it, [in the uk by the way] and if I hear something I like there are other ways of getting to it for an even more in depth preview [see my last comment]. So the limit doesnt really effect me. Its people who solely use Spotify for their music needs, they worry me.
Storm In A Teacup 12.23.11	The industry needs an overhaul anyway. Let's all be hippies and make music everywhere free. Just set up a community that will allow bands to stay at fans houses when on tour so they don't have to get a tooooooo expensive bus. And provide your sister for their after-show lay wait what?
thumbcrusher 12.23.11	i stopped using it once they changed the limits, i tend to use youtube to check a band out anyway.
Recspecs 12.23.11	"The industry needs an overhaul anyway. Let's all be hippies and make music everywhere free. Just set up a community that will allow bands to stay at fans houses when on tour so they don't have to get a tooooooo expensive bus. And provide your sister for their after-show lay wait what?" Lol. I like this idea.
mort 12.23.11	Youtube is ok, lot of stuff, but the sound can be awful.
theacademy 12.23.11	i just wrote a 14 page essay on spotify :D
FearThyEvil 12.23.11	I enjoy spotify a lot because it's helpful when I don't want to download something to my itunes just to listen to something new. Only issue right now is the annoying ass advertisements and not having the artists you want or all the albums for them.
DoubtGin 12.23.11	switch to grooveshark, screw the drawbacks
FearThyEvil 12.23.11	Oh, btw, for the first 6months since you first signed up their is no limit. It's not until those 6months are up.
mort 12.24.11	academy : Really? what for? I'll have to dos something similar when my publishing module finishes!