Spotify - any good?

Placidcasual79 · March 6

Any one use Spotify? Whats the verdict?

I am on iTunes buying albums and burning cds - time to move on I think? I'd vinyl but dont want to start again..... I have two teenage children - could I include them on my account? Is premium any good? I try and buy two albums a month - one old one new if possible.....

(Apologies if should be in a different category)

Winny_Pooh · March 6

It's great, esp on a premium family plan although they pay musicians less than Tidal for example. I'd try Tidal if I wasnt locked to old my hifi only streaming Spotify.
I dont miss CDs.

robinbowes · March 6

I have a premium family plan and it's pretty good. It has a good selection of music, works well, and I also use it for podcasts.

merlin · March 6

Spotify is absolutely brilliant at ripping off players, writers, producers such as ourselves. Musicians earn next to nothing from streaming. Thousands of plays earns you 3p.

I've taken all my listings off Spotify.

LionAquaLooper · March 6

Premium Family Plan here as well. Can't live without it because seems like even the most obscure bands I listen to are there now.

Revolutions · March 6

I’ve used Spotify since day 1. I love it, although I’m stuck with it, for better or worse due to longstanding habit & sharing tracks/playlists with friends.

Oddly enough, all the new features are starting to turn me off. I don’t need a podcast player, I don’t care about a 5 second video for every track, or video overview, or selfie video updates from the artists, and I especially don’t need pop-fiction audiobooks from Richard Osman.

Do I wish they were one of the higher paying streaming services for artists? Yes. Although I’m well aware that Apple Music barely pay more, and an artist isn’t going to make a living from Tidal royalties either way.

speaking of Tidal- I started a trial this week to check it out. As a Spotify user it’s v intuitive. Would recommend exploring that as an option.

EricTheWeary · March 6

My son pays for YouTube premium and I piggy back on that. So I have ad free YouTube viewing and ad free YouTube music. Ultimately the catalogue isn't as big on YouTube music as Spotify but it's still pretty huge. The algorithm on YT music seems fine as well, Spotify was always suggesting their promoted acts to me which got on my nerves.

Philly_Q · March 6

I think Spotify's fantastic. Convenient to use, the library is huge although they don't have everything, and the algorithms and playlists work well for me, I've discovered lots of new music over the last decade.

I'm aware that the royalties paid to artists are tiny, but I don't think other streaming services pay significantly more (it may be two or three times as much for all I know, but in total it's still tiny). In any case I still buy CDs of music I really like - but I never actually play them, I really only listen on Spotify.

ewal · March 6

Spotify is incredibly convenient. However I sorta don't have the same to connection to music and the concept of 'curating' my own music collection since I switched to it from Google music. My 'library' just doesn't feel like my music, albums just don't figure nearly as prominently. Playlists are king.

If you are accustomed to acquiring two albums a month and adding them to your album collection, I'd pause before going all in with Spotify.

Edited to add: I want to go to my library (effectively mycollection of music I have built up over the years that I have a listening relationship with) and list all the albums I own by a particular artist. I can't do that. I can list all the artists in my library or all the albums in my library. I can't do both at the same time.

I was previously on YouTube Music Premium - the problem with it was it differentiated (arguably correctly) between albums I had uploaded or acquired by other means (ripping cds, bandcamp downloads etc) and those that I had added on YouTube. I didn't like that.

Google Music on the other hand preserved the concept of library as album collection which can be organised by artist etc. More akin to physical media and mp3 player days.

Basically I'm an old fart.

monquixote · March 6

I've had it since the day it launched.

It's the best service in terms of usability.

Family premium is the best value if you have kids.

timmypix · March 6

Spotify is generally brilliant from a user perspective, although the increasingly pushy video content seems utterly pointless and does bother me when it clogs up my "feed" - that Spotify has a "feed" at all is getting increasingly irritating. That push aside, all but the most obscure albums I like are on there, plus podcasts, and now audiobooks, which I'm starting to explore a little.

I find Spotify works better the more you use it - once it knows roughly what you like, it's pretty good for just bunging on, as well as of course finding whatever you actually want to listen to in the moment. Through listening to the stuff I like, I've discovered some new music through its suggestions, too.

However, it does pay artists bloody nothing. So weigh up that side of it vs the convenience of having pretty much everything you could ever want in one place. Part of me wonders if we're so far gone down the digital road that it's pretty much status quo that artists don't really make money from music these days anyway, and the music then becomes a jumping off point for selling things that do make money (merch). Although that's a segue into an entirely different debate!

TL;DR - I like Spotify, it's more convenient and easier to use than iTunes, I don't use CDs anymore other than as a way to have a physical backup and decorate my office. And hopefully get a bit more money to the artists.

Philly_Q · March 6

ewal said:

Spotify is incredibly convenient. However I sorta don't have the same to connection to music and the concept of 'curating' my own music collection since I switched to it from Google music. My 'library' just doesn't feel like my music, albums just don't figure nearly as prominently. Playlists are king.

I guess it depends on your approach? I nearly always search artists, then go to discography, then play albums. At the end of an album it then goes into a playlist of similar artists... sometimes I let that play, but usually I go back and play another album. Very, very occasionally I might go straight into a playlist.

The library does feel "mine" but I do worry that occasionally things will just be taken away, or they'll only have the super-deluxe remixed version of an album with 25 tracks of studio outtakes. But most of the time it's fine.

thecolourbox · March 6

I use Spotify but recently asked the question whether switching to Apple would be better for me as I liked the idea of their classical feature, but had bad memories of trying to use their app previously (and basically every app ever by Apple to be honest). I stuck with Spotify.

It's decent, although as with everything it has its frustrations. One of my biggest bug bears is that on various devices (I use it on my phone, work PC via app or via web browser, my own laptop, my own desktop, TV, etc) it simply refuses to load the Liked Songs playlist. And on the devices where it does eventually load, it takes an age to load it when you don't know if it's doing anything or not. Also the shuffle is poor - it seems to latch on to certain artists and plays them every few songs. For some reason it is absolutely obsessed with playing Pokey Lafarge songs every single time I shuffle the Liked Songs playlists, so much so that I had to "unlike" all of his songs but then it just goes onto others. It often favours Cat Stevens, Marilyn Manson, and Sia in a similar way, but never as much as Pokey Effing Lafarge.

I still largely buy the same amount of new (ie current) CDs as I did before subscribing, they just tend to not get used once I've ripped them to my hard drive. The main thing it's reduced is how many old (ie from decades ago) CDs I buy which is a shame I suppose. But that said, it's also coincided with me working at home so I don't need to while away lunch hours browsing music shops so it's not just because of Spotify.

It's incredibly useful for when I run pub quizzes and require a music round

EDIT: I use iTunes for organising my Classical music collection, and Media Monkey for my non-classical music. I have a lot of live recordings and stuff you can't get on streaming stuff so it still fulfils a role.

Lestratcaster · March 6

I have the Premium plan too. It's great for having access to millions of songs on one device (or several, in my case as I use it across 4 different ones).

It's useful for making playlists for learners as they can add songs they might like and want to play, so I can listen to them outside of lessons to see if I can make a version for them to learn.

I'm sure there's better platforms out there with better audio quality, but it just works.

darthed1981 · March 6

Spotify, and streaming in general, are brilliant.

Spotify has the best interface, excellent quality (nobody can really tell the difference between 320kbps OGG Vorbis and CD in proper ABX, their brain just thinks they can) and great device compatibility... it works pretty much anywhere.

Has to be said even by the low-bar of Tech CEOs - Spotify's does come across as slightly slimy - the fact Spotify was basically force on the industry as a way of monetising the internet after they had all failed to probably didn't help. Thing is... the major labels now like it, it just really sucks if you are a bubbling-under artist, as a few thousand streams seems a lot, but it isn't treated as a lot and you get about 30p.

Ultimately, if your Mum listened all month, and you think you therefore deserve at least her tenner, you would be better off asking your Mum for a tenner, as it doesn't work like that...

The others all have their pros and cons.

If you want to give more money to Beyonce and Jay Z sorry... artists... then Tidal is great, also has the hifi quality, which while pointless on it's own, does attract much better masters... and also do bear in mind, Beyonce and Jay Z need your money.

YouTube music comes bundled with YouTube premium for videos - so is brilliant value for money, but the interface is shit.

Amazon music, OK, does hi-fi and wacky surround with their posh echo speakers, lousy interface.

I've not personally used Apple or Deezer. but know people who swear by both.

Streaming returns huge revenues to the industry, which isn't necessarily reflected in payments to artists. That said, Taylor Swift seems fairly well off, so there must be some money there. Harry Styles not short of a quid here and there etc.

There is a lot of drama around it, but the industry has changed, recorded music doesn't return the revenues it once did... we have done this so many times, new industry, direct engagement, social media, yadda yadda...

If you are out to support your favourite artists, buy the signed vinyl off their website or a t-shirt at the gig, also go to the gig, then choose the streamer who works with all your gadgets.

blobb · March 6

The problem I have with it, and why I don't use it is that I can't go to my local independant Spotify dealer, flick through dusty Spotify albums, take a punt on a cheap obscure Spotify album, take it home and feel the dissapointment of wasting a Spotify fiver on a real turkey.

Nothing beats record shops for that.

Kurtis · March 6

merlin said:

Spotify is absolutely brilliant at ripping off players, writers, producers such as ourselves. Musicians earn next to nothing from streaming. Thousands of plays earns you 3p.

I've taken all my listings off Spotify.

Yeah but musicians don't do it for the money, it's all about the music man!

darthed1981 · March 6

blobb said:

The problem I have with it, and why I don't use it is that I can't go to my local independant Spotify dealer, flick through dusty Spotify albums, take a punt on a cheap obscure Spotify album, take it home and feel the dissapointment of wasting a Spotify fiver on a real turkey.

Nothing beats record shops for that.

Pfff.... Amateur

These days it's about queuing up once a year at a shop you would never otherwise visit, spend £40 each on five albums you haven't listened to in a decade on "unicorn jizz splatter" vinyl... then go home and put them on your shelf to never listen to again...

Unrelated note: I'm not doing RSD this year...

Philly_Q · March 6

darthed1981 said:

There is a lot of drama around it, but the industry has changed, recorded music doesn't return the revenues it once did... we have done this so many times, new industry, direct engagement, social media, yadda yadda...

If you are out to support your favourite artists, buy the signed vinyl off their website or a t-shirt at the gig, also go to the gig, then choose the streamer who works with all your gadgets.

This. We can still choose to give our money to artists and enjoy the benefits of streaming.

Placidcasual79 · March 6

@Winny_Pooh @robinbowes @LionAquaLooper ;

Thank you - I have two teenage children and it was their prompting that bought be to consider Spotify.....

would you mind telling me a little about the cost and how premium works?

robinbowes · March 6

Currently £17.99 per month. For that 6 people can use the service. You set up a main account (the one that pays) and send invites to everyone else.

R.

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