Spotify Speaks

[Sal1950]

ask What Hifi if they can dig deeper regarding that Spotify moderator's statement.

I've heard a couple references like this before. What do you expect What-HiFi is going to find out that the moderator dude didn't say? I hate to say it but IMO that post was exactly what "corporate" Spotify wanted said, nothing less or more. If anything about it displeased the brass it would have been retracted or some other "official" post made. But, NOT A WORD has be put out and I"ll bet that's all we're going to get for some time.

 

[DanielT]

Ah, I’m a cynic, so would not be offended . Strange enough, I’m also a hardcore optimist . Still not sure how that works together.

He he,

I created a new thread about it:

Sour cynical realist or gullible naive optimist?

What is your view on that? What is your attitude to it in life? It can have its bissar charm, these old farts. Maybe at family events, family dinners it can be a little too much when that uncle begins to chew cynical froth. We all know such a person. Those who do not know one are already that...

audiosciencereview.com

 

[SKBubba]

But, NOT A WORD has be put out and I"ll bet that's all we're going to get for some time.

I'm guessing they will have to say something in their annual report. Their announcement, failure to deliver, competitive landscape v. Apple and Amazon, pricing strategies, and cost of delivery (storage and bandwith) all seem like "material" facts that must be disclosed to investors.

 

[litemotiv]

On the other hand, you have a company like Spotify with lots of competition, who still claim or in actuality, is still not profitable after 15+ years.

Yes 15+ years is a long time to operate at a loss.

Below are two charts showing Spotify's revenue and profitability forecast for the coming years by Nasdaq analysts, it looks very strong:

[Revenue]

[Profitability]

 

[voodooless]

They got a nice letter from me yesterday answering why I was canceling my long held subscription. Also the same was posted in my Community account. I sure hope they got many more.
Enough!

Damn it! I also did it Transferring my library right now.

 

[DudleyDuoflush]

At some level doesn't this come down to business integrity? They've promised to do something for their existing or new customers by a specified date and haven't delivered on that promise. If they came out and said we've had a re-think and we're not doing it because we don't think you can tell the difference or it's proving more difficult than we thought because of X, Y or Z I think most people would be fine with that. For me, just saying nothing and hoping it goes away lacks integrity.

 

[voodooless]

If they came out and said we've had a re-think and we're not doing it because we don't think you can tell the difference or it's proving more difficult than we thought because of X, Y or Z I think most people would be fine with that.

Apple did the exact opposite: they said nobody would hear the difference, and released it anyway

 

[voodooless]

Damn it! I also did it Transferring my library right now.

Oh boy... I'm already regretting this How impossibly slow did they make that interface. Oh well, best not to touch it too much I guess

Luckily Apple wants to overhaul the complete interface in the near future. I'm pretty sure they'll do that long before Spotify has lossless playback.

 

[Deleted member 23424]

[Profitability]

Nothing a bit of EQ couldn't fix

 

[danadam]

I would much rather that my subscription was divided up amongst those artists I do play, and as I play a fairly limited range of folk and jazz artists, they would get a fair percentage of my subscriptions.

I wonder if this way they would actually get more money in total?

 

[Zensō]

Oh boy... I'm already regretting this How impossibly slow did they make that interface. Oh well, best not to touch it too much I guess

Luckily Apple wants to overhaul the complete interface in the near future. I'm pretty sure they'll do that long before Spotify has lossless playback.

Yeah, Apple Music on MacOS is overdue for a native overhaul. Apple Music on iOS is sublime though, so fast and fluid on a 120hz display!

 

[litemotiv]

I wonder if this way they would actually get more money in total?

The current system is mostly just a matter of manageability, it's not intended to favor certain artists over others. When you simply divide the total revenue by 'play share', then the total sum will always be 100%. It's very easy to maintain.

When instead you want to divide the revenue by plays per individual subscriber, then the math becomes a lot more complex. It's not possible to set a fixed amount of $ per play, since then the total sum could be more than the total revenue, which would be economically untenable. So it would be challenging to come up with a good formula to calculate the payouts.

For example:

Imagine a small artist X that has 100 monthly listeners of which 10 have paid subscriptions, and those listeners listen exclusively to this artist 24/7. So this could amount to a fairly large number of monthly plays, however the revenue from the 100 listeners is relatively small and is divided between some subscription revenue (10 people) and some advertising revenue (90 people). How could you calculate what this artist is supposed to be paid at the end of the month?

 

[mash]

I use both Tidal and Spotify pretty extensively. Spotify for music discovery, playlist creation, and car audio. My whole house system is built around Roon, so that means I either need Tidal or Quobuz. I do most of my streaming service listening via playlists or Roon's radio service (its fairly easy to create my playlists on Spotify and transfer them to Tidal for integration into my Roon setup). I originally chose Tidal hoping to completely displace Spotify but Tidal's service/interface has too many issues to be my sole streaming source. Its definitely frustrating having to purchase 2 services but Spotify's lack of a whole house solution (compared to Roon) forces me down that path.

This year, I intend to take a more serious look at Quobuz/Roon and decide if that is a better alternative to Tidal/Roon. Longer term, I'm hoping that one of Spotify/Apple/Amazon figures out a better whole house solution...(without completely forcing me into their heavily controlled ecosystem) or Roon figures out how to partner with one of the major streaming services........I'm not counting on either of those things happening anytime soon.

 

[Sal1950]

This year, I intend to take a more serious look at Quobuz/Roon and decide if that is a better alternative to Tidal/Roon.

Anything would be better than supporting Tidal's promotion of mqa.

 

[holbob]

I've gone back to Spotify. It's ease of use appeals to us as a family. Amazon Music has a horrendous UI and awful search algorithm.

 

[AdamG]

Interesting read and demonstrates how long Spotify has been baiting Members with “We’re working on it” B.S. for years now!

Spotify HiFi still doesn't have a launch date after nearly five years

Last February during its Stream On event, the company said Spotify HiFi would debut later in the year and deliver CD-quality tunes as an option for Premium...

www.techspot.com

 

[Zensō]

Interesting read and demonstrates how long Spotify has been baiting Members with “We’re working on it” B.S. for years now!

Spotify HiFi still doesn't have a launch date after nearly five years

Last February during its Stream On event, the company said Spotify HiFi would debut later in the year and deliver CD-quality tunes as an option for Premium...

www.techspot.com

Yup, they have a polished product but their corporate communications are atrocious. Their business model is also very bad for most musicians.