Here's Why We Can't Have Nice Things: Spotify Goes Public

[buldog5151bass]

as a serious investor, why on earth would you invest in a company that has never shown a profit? .... ever. I will be flabbergasted if this thing gets any action at all just on it's word that it will show a profit at some point, couldn't even sell that one to the shark tank people , not to mention that the whole thing reeks of exploitation. I have never listened to Spotify and hope the stupid deal goes down in flames.

Tell that to the people investing in Tesla.

 

[Son of Wobble]

I was talking from a pay perspective. Do artist get paid when their song is played on the radio? I think technology from a recording stand point has had it's impact too. You can do a very good recording in your kitchen for a couple of grand. That wouldn't have gotten you squat 20 years ago. Distribution and getting your music heard today a heck of a lot easier.

Other factors also come into play, like the country in which a song was streamed and the currency value in that country. Still, Spotify admits the average "per stream" payout to rights holders lands somewhere between $0.006 and $0.0084.Dec 7, 2015

 

[Son of Wobble]

I was talking from a pay perspective. Do artist get paid when their song is played on the radio? I think technology from a recording stand point has had it's impact too. You can do a very good recording in your kitchen for a couple of grand. That wouldn't have gotten you squat 20 years ago. Distribution and getting your music heard today a heck of a lot easier.

Then there's this:


My Song Got Played On Pandora 1 Million Times and All I Got Was $16.89, Less Than What I Make From a Single T-Shirt Sale!

 

[fdeck]

Regardless of their effect on the recording industry, I don't think the fact that Spotify went public changes anything. It just means that the owners were ready to cash out, which was the purpose of the business in the first place. And now we know how much they cashed out for.

 

[BurnOut]

"It's time for artists, bands and record labels to give in to the fact that we live in a singles world and an album just isn't the product that consumers are looking for."

So concludes the Forbes article on the death of the album. Assuming this is true, and given that consumers also are not looking
to buy single downloads from iTunes (a dying market), that leaves musicians little choice but to broker in singles, make videos out of pocket as loss leaders on Youtube, and accept the rates and terms offered by Spotify and other streaming platforms.

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I'm still buying on iTunes, only if I really want it. Rarely buy a whole album, occasionally. I've never really been a hits kinda person though, usually go deeper.

 

[StudioStuntz]

re: ron jeremy's car:

looks like a fender.

That may explain why he looks like a Hagstrom...with inactive pickups.

 

[Son of Wobble]

I'm still buying on iTunes, only if I really want it. Rarely buy a whole album, occasionally. I've never really been a hits kinda person though, usually go deeper.

As smartphones increasingly replace people's computers, storage space starts to come at a premium.
Consumers have voted, and would now rather have free space on their phones than music files.

 

[StudioStuntz]

Right???

Mr. Wonderful would say, "You lose a billion and a half dollars last year, and your valuation of the company is 24 BILLION?
How did you get there?"

"Why should I gave YOU that kind of money?".

"What makes you think I just can't plop down $461,000,000 myself, and just call it 'Mr. Wonderfullify'?

...and for that reason, I'm out"

 

[BurnOut]

As smartphones increasingly replace people's computers, storage space starts to come at a premium.
Consumers have voted, and would now rather have free space on their phones than music files.

Still running IPod touch 32 gig and computer. Have some music on the Windows Phone, the SD card holds tons. The kids at work would stream. One kid was all over me for having CDs still, saw no reason for it or buying music.

 

[BurnOut]

The kid would spend major bucks on games though. Major Dollars

 

[klejst]

I have been using Spotify since its beta days. I'll keep using it free until they charge all together, the ads don't bother me, however I have a feeling that may not be as far away from the horizon.

 

[catcauphonic]

ok, can someone explain to me how streaming is different from radio?

Radio stations (mainstream/ corporate owned/ 90% dial monopolies like Clear Channel) are pushing very narrow formats that severely limit what the DJs can play between the mandatory 5min of commercials for every 10-15min of programming. Definitely no longer the place to find exciting new artists anymore (save for the under 10% Independent Radio market way down left on the dial.)

Free Spotify is the ability to listen to virtually any full songs or album, from virtually any artist that is listed with them (99% of bands I typed in besides extreme DIY types came up), but with an annoying commercial every 2-3 songs. There are no disc jockeys yammering on between the music.
$10 per month Spotify gets you commercial free streaming, and the ability to download each song or full album for offline listening (so you can download 5 albums worth of stuff just 5 minutes before a road trip, or thousands of songs per month!)

Edit: they also make Daily, Weekly and yearly playlists for you based on your current listing habits, marked favorites, etc. I get a few 'Artists you may enjoy' comps monthly, and there's a slew of genres & listening categories to choose from not unlike satellite radio.

Not so sure how iTunes or Amazon does things, but I think Pandora only lets you listen to 'Artist's radio'... where it chooses the songs for you to stream (not a fan of that particular platform.)