i've been a gradual convert to the joys of spotify. as a music 'discovery' service it's quite passive, and its recommendations are patchy and sometimes unfathomable, unlike last or amazon or whatever. but for checking out all those things you meant to listen to but never managed to get round to (or had completely forgotten about), it's undeniably great. and i've even been moved to buy a couple of things as a result. ooh er.the ads are increasingly annoying though - not so much because of their frequency but their naffness. those made by the spotify people themselves are the worst - they seem to be recorded on a webcam mic (the plosives could blow sensitive speakers) and i'm certain it's the same bloke doing a lot of them using slightly different voices. my favourite though is the one featuring a rather nervous sounding amy macdonald plugging her new album, which ends with this line - 'the guys at spotify believe that everyone loves music, and i'm sure you will too'. er, what? is amy sure that we'll believe in the somewhat radical notion that everyone loves music, or that, hey, we'll love it too now thanks to spotify. i don't think she's suggesting we'll love her music, which is probably just as well.
equally awful are the 'punters' voice messages telling us how great spotify is but wouldn't it be even greater if we could listen to the entire beatles back catalogue on it. again, some of the early ones seemed to have rather similar voices to those on some of the other ads...hmmm. certainly if the bloke with the comedy irish accent who says he'd love more dance music so he can get his dancing shoes on really talks like that i'd be very surprised and not a little sympathetic.
still, all this is unlikely to make me (or anyone else i know) actually shell out for a subscription to get shot of the ads, so it looks like that's where they're going to have to earn a crust for the next while...
on the other hand, i'm not sure if any artists make anything out of their plays at all. and i can understand why the likes of robert fripp have gone to quite considerable lengths to make sure their music is off it and be very public about their distrust of the operation. lob's last album is on there - not sure if anyone gave permission for that, but it's ok with me. it's not like anyone's going to listen to it, is it?
2 comments:
I quite agree with your annoyance Peter. It was a morning listening to beautiful Mompou pieces interrupted by the bloody "Let's talk about free" ad which got to me: I DID end up forking out for a subscription. I have to say, it's with every penny...
As for musicians and composers not getting any money, I'd say that's down to labels and publishers, who are getting a cut... Same old same old, really.
totally agree. on fripp's blog he reproduces a royalty statement from island which amounts to less than £2 for something like 600 plays for a couple of KC tracks (which have seince been removed of course). unlike last,fm, which go through PPL, spotify negotiates individually with labels. of course as you probably know, there's a suggestion that UMG and maybe others have a stake in spotify. which would explain a lot...
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