When I discovered Spotify, the way I listened to music changed. I had been a dedicated user of iTunes before it launched, and I constantly updated my iPod. When Spotify came out, I couldn’t believe that everything I used to pay to listen to was now all right there for my enjoyment. At first, I used Spotify to preview new albums of artists I liked before I bought it on iTunes. iTunes only allows 30 seconds to a minute to preview a song. Now, I rarely open my iTunes account. Occasionally, I’ll still buy an album by my favorite band so I can have it on my phone without need of a wifi connection, but that’s about the extent of my use. I love how on Spotify I can listen to an entire album, and I think that occasional 30-second commercials are a small price to pay. They are so non-invasive that I have never even felt the need to buy Spotify premium. I mostly listen to music while doing work on my laptop, so the free app where I can literally listen to almost anything is always available to me. I also find the app a lot more extensive. Features such as the “Discover” tab allow me to easily sample artists similar to ones I already like, and I have found several new bands that I really like in this way. The radio app is more diverse than Pandora or the iTunes radio option. The app even updates me on upcoming concerts of bands I like that are going to Chicago.
To further the spread of new music, developers J Hausmann, Nate Gagnon, and interactive art director Jordan decided to create the website “forgotify.” Awhile ago, Spotify revealed that 20% of the songs in their library had never been played. The website uses a program that searches for songs with a zero popularity rating, meaning they’ve never been played once, and provides it for people to listen to. Once a song has been played, it is removed from the website. Considering that Spotify pays artists between $0.006 and $0.0084 per stream of a song, these artists probably aren’t getting much payout by having their music on Spotify, but some recognition is at least beneficial. I will admit that when I heard how little artists receive from Spotify, I felt a little guilty about using it as my primary mode of listening. It has inspired me to buy albums I really enjoy on iTunes, which compensates artists more. With the rise of new media must come increased consideration for the rights of musical artists to be paid for their work in a fair manner.
References
Edwards, J. (2013, 12 05). The fantastically small amount spotify pays artists per song.
Retrieved from http://www.slate.com/blogs/business_insider/2013/12/05/how_much_does_spotify_pay_artists_in_royalties.html
Rothman, L. (2014, 01 30). Introducing forgotify: where unpopular spotify songs so to be heard. Retrieved from http://entertainment.time.com/2014/01/30/spotify-unpopular-songs-forgotify/
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I don’t personally have a Spotify account but now I definitely want to try it out. I don’t know why I haven’t tried it yet. Most of my friends use it and I agree, listening to a 30 second advertisement is not a big price to pay in order to listen to your favorite songs and compete albums anywhere you are. My biggest issue is the same as you mentioned above, more than anything I feel bad for the musicians that get cut short because of the free listening. I guess buy the albums of the artists you really love, and listen to the rest for free? “With the rise of new media must come increased consideration for the rights of musical artists to be paid for their work in a fair manner.” I hope so.
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I have never used Spotify before, my only experience with it is when my friends have been using it around me. Whenever I want to listen to new music, ITunes is usually my go to. Of course the only issue with that is the money. I didn’t know that on Spotify you could listen to entire albums, i’m definitely going to have to give it a try.
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My only complaint with Spotify is that they pay artists .7 cents (not even a full cent) per song. I use it religiously, though. It’s my main way of getting music and a great way of finding out what shows are coming to town. I just think they should treat artists more fairly.
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