Comments on: Spotify

By: Mike K Smith

Mike K Smith — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 09:15:45 +0000

(Context: I live in the UK, have listened to music with Spotify for a while).

I use Spotify a LOT to listen to lots of new music that somebody else has recommended or to follow the “Related Artists” links to find yet more new stuff that I’ve never heard before. I also listen to internet radio channels from the likes of Soma FM and when I hear something I like, I chase it down on Spotify and listen to the rest of the album. I take a few listens, and if it continues to grab me I’ll go and download it from the usual channels (iTunes or Bandcamp if available). To me, it’s a great way to audition new music and get a feel for an artist that the 30 seconds of clip on iTunes would never allow. I’ve bought dozens of albums from using this route from artists like Kiln, Lusine, Ametsub, Bugge Wesseltoft & Henrik Schwartz, Helios, Luke Abbott, etc. I don’t know how I would have “discovered” these artists without the social media trifecta of Twitter / blogs + Spotify + Bandcamp / iTunes.

By: TwistedRat

TwistedRat — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 23:57:45 +0000

Worth noting to all indi bands are that the labels that have signed on with Spotify have tools (Spotify Analytics) that enable them to at any given time check how many times a artist have been played (to date or within any time frame), which song and where the listeners have been located in the US. This will make indi bands attractive to labels if they get played allot which then help to get labels to fund them :)

It also help the bands plan tours as they know where in the US there followers are located.

Another thing worth mentioning is that the payment per stream atm. is higher from Spotify that Rhapsody

By: Oliver Chesler

Oliver Chesler — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 23:56:30 +0000

Thank you very much for the tips!

By: TwistedRat

TwistedRat — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 23:47:02 +0000

Some Spotify pointers, first off try the hidden contextual search which saved my day like artist:scarecrow title:”black door” find all the types in Spotify.com under FAQ section

There are many other sites that generate suggested songs in a playlist from any artist you enter and also one (truShuffle) that generate suggested songs from what you play in Spotify. :)

Here’s a few links to truly awesome Spotify tips:
1. http://pansentient.com/2011/02/ten-top-spotify-tips/
2. http://pansentient.com/2011/05/another-ten-top-spotify-tips/
3. http://pansentient.com/2011/07/ten-more-top-spotify-tips/

By: sampo

sampo — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 15:29:59 +0000

As far as I understand the economics here, the payment issue is not really with Spotify but with the labels. The deals between the label and the bands to be more precise. Can someone verify or disprove this hypothesis?

By: Sourcey Source

Sourcey Source — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 09:10:30 +0000

Yeah I can relate. I’m going to be putting out an album sometime during the next year and I have to admit that it sucks to think you’ll basically get nothing financially from Spotify plays, however with that said, I strongly believe the real enemy of the artist is obscurity, more so now than ever, and Spotify is definitely opening my ears to bands I’d never have heard any other way.

I think Spotify needs to work a great deal on its browsing systems as it’s actually not particularly enjoyable to browse at the moment (although worth noting you can put in google style search modifiers – eg. “genre:house years:1991-1994″).

It’s safe to assume you won’t make any money by being on Spotify – but they DO share statistics with labels (and artists in turn I assume)? With this in mind – you could plan a tour knowing which cities listen to you the most, for example. Now that IS valuable knowledge, unattainable in any other way, and would likely have a direct result in attendance figures.

By: Boris

Boris — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 07:51:43 +0000

I am greeted with “Why is spotify not available in my country?”. Internet in germany sometimes feels a lot like what it must feel in china.

By: michael

michael — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 05:08:33 +0000

No that chart is well known and its not going to change. Spotify is an exceptionally bad deal for musicians, we get nothing, the amounts even with thousands of plays are tiny.

By: Oliver Chesler

Oliver Chesler — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 20:35:32 +0000

Wow Darren that chart is very damming. I hope it changes.

By: Darren

Darren — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 19:18:00 +0000

I signed our band up for it even though I see it as a further devaluation of music. It seems more and more that everyone makes money from music except the artist. Spotify will earn upwards of $50 million or more this year (by some estimates) on the backs of musicians but the compensation to the artist is small to the point of being absurd. The advantage of services like this and Rhapsody are heavily in favor of the listener, who is perhaps reluctant to buy in the first place). We signed up for the sake of availability being a new band with only one EP out so far. Moving forward with any kind of loyal following we would certainly be a lot less likely to blast the music out to any vendor that will take it.

There’s an excellent chart that shows the comparative earning potential of various vendors here:

http://www.informationisbeautiful.net/2010/how-much-do-music-artists-earn-online/

After seeing the chart I’ll be taking down my tracks from Spotify and Rhapsody.