the problem with spotify, etc. (a rant)
(AN UNPRECEDENTED PREAMBLE ADDENDUM: Reading this back it sounds a little complainy, so let me just make clear that I realize exactly how lucky I am that I play music in a band that people have heard, and I know people have largely heard my band because we have had our music on the internet for free for the past six years, and will ‘til we ain’t a band anymore.)
Let me start off by saying, I really have no business talking about this. I have a Premium Spotify account. And also, this post has pretty much nothing to do with Bomb the Music Industry! as a band. All our songs are on there, and we have no plans to take them off of there. Then again, all of our songs (and arguably, all songs) are available free on the internet.
But also, I love music. Which is why I’ve been an advocate for reasonable and responsible (ha ha ha okay okay moving on) file sharing since Napster became a thing. When I got Napster, the first thing I downloaded was Alkaline Trio’s Maybe I’ll Catch Fire. I loved it and listened to it a lot, bought a shirt from Asian Man, eventually bought their future releases, saw them live countless times, told my friends about them, burned CD’s for ‘em on some occasions, and now Mike Park puts out my records.
In contrast there are some records that I’ve listened to on Spotify which didn’t really hit me right away. Maybe I just wasn’t in the right mood. I can’t tell you what those records were. Not only do I obviously not have the LP or CD to give another spin, but that shit ain’t in my iTunes. It’s not gonna be the only thing in the van to listen to. It’s not gonna come on shuffle when I’m aimlessly walking around. So I’ve pretty much forgotten all of those records, and growers are quickly being filtered out of my musical canon which SHITS because everyone knows GROWERS ARE THE BEST RECORDS. If I didn’t go back to London Calling years after I heard “Lost in the Supermarket” and thought “This ain’t punk!” I’d be a totally different person! Maybe one with a real job!
Currently, I’m trying to find a new record by one of my favorite bands on Google, which is illegal. The thing is, I’m probably going to buy the record (as long as it’s not $25, eh fuck it, still might buy it) next time I’m at a record store and see it. Or if I see it used, that’d be awesome! So, why would I bother paying for a download if I’m gonna end up paying anyway and getting a download with the LP right? I’d like to listen to it NOW though, and as much as I’d like to pretend we DON’T live in the age of instantaneous information by waiting for release dates to ILLEGALLY download records… we DO. Oh well.
The label has pulled most all the illegal downloads offline. That’s fine. That’s a good defense strategy, a good wrench in the cogs, a good balm for the bruise. But this record IS on Spotify. Right now, I CAN listen to it and this band I love will luckily get fractions of a cent per stream. Also, if it’s NOT that good, I can forget that I ever heard it and just go back to their records that I know… some of which I came to love after multiple listens.
Talk about fucking devaluing music. I’m wondering what the major labels, who were suing teenagers not too far back for STEALING music, saw in these business models. It was always at least a LITTLE bit of a challenge to get music online for free… I was even kicked off of the torrent site that leaked the last BTMI! record because my share ratio wasn’t high enough due to torrent tracker problems. This eventually made iTunes successful. It was convenient and you wouldn’t get some 15-year-olds in a reggae band covering “You Make My Dreams Come True” labeled as Me First and the Gimme Gimmes (not to discount plan a project’s ska cover of gin and juice which was also labeled as such.) The ease was worth the $10, but you’re not gonna buy a million records or anything. Artists were getting paid though.
Now there is a COMPLETELY LEGAL WAY to listen to almost ANY RECORD YOU WANT, WHEREVER YOU WANT pretty much for FREE. Like ILLEGAL downloading, the artists still don’t make a dime. I believe they make $0.000255 per stream. WAY less than a dime. And since the music just sits on a cloud with every other record and doesn’t take up any space in your world, you can completely forget about it. Finally music can be ENTIRELY DISPOSABLE!!!
I don’t understand how this is BETTER than Napster, Audiogalaxy, Oink, and so on. I don’t understand the guise of trying to protect artists with frivolous lawsuits, artwork-intrusive anti-piracy logos, virus-causin’ DRM bullshit etc, when the endgame fucks over artists just as much if not more. And what is any artist supposed to do? NOT have your music on Spotify (or Mog, or Rdio, or whatever) and not have anyone listen to your music at all? What is the future going to be like when everybody has the same record collection, which includes every record?
Shitty.
(SOME ADDENDUMS, I would like to add that obviously I’m not providing any solutions, just complaining. And also that independent labels are part of the problem too, but they DO kinda have to fall in line with what the majors do. And most importantly, that I don’t believe engaging in commerce is the be all and end all of music.)
(FINAL ADDENDUM I PROMISE: There have been some responses, but since I don’t know how to use tumblr properly, I’m going to keep them in the comments section so we can have a discussion?)
