

The case against Spotify - ttjervaag
http://thedailyt.com/2009/08/the-case-against-spotify/

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PStamatiou
I on the other hand welcome our new music overlords. here's why:
<http://paulstamatiou.com/review-spotify-music-on-demand>

I think this is the future.. why worry about maintaining your catalogs and
syncing between computers. Let it be online. As for the whole "but i like
owning my stuff" argument, I mentioned that in my post. And as for the offline
client issue, yeah they're working on it.. I still burn CDs for my car so I'll
be interested in how this works out. But I figure in 10-15 years every ipod or
other such device you listen to music on, even your car, will be online.. I
never want to have to deal with ensuring all my songs have proper and accurate
ID3 tag info. If I have to see Track 1, Track 2.. again I'm gonna go apeshit.

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briancooley
I know almost nothing about the music business, but I have always heard that
artists make more money touring than by selling albums. If that were the case,
I would think that artists would jump at the chance to be played widely in
hopes that it would drive consumers to buy tickets for their tours.

It seems like two of the arguments (no ownership of the music, no direct
compensation for artists) could be made for radio in the earlier portion of
the 20th century, yet that vehicle was apparently successful for both the
radio stations and the artists.

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tome
If it's true that touring is more profitable then I'd really like to see data
for this, and a comparison between famous and little-known acts. This could
add a lot of weight to arguments in favour of laxer copyright laws.

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mgrouchy
Honestly, it depends on how many albums the artist actually sells VS how large
of a draw you are(there is a correlation between both).

Say for example an artist makes 1.35/album and sells 2 million(which is not
too bad) and then does 100 shows (which certainly is not out of the realm of
possibility)commands 40k fee + merch sales at the venue.

1.35/album * 2,000,000 = 2.7 million 100 shows * 40k = 4 Million + merch sales
- costs

So it really depends, the more albums you sell the more money you make from
albums. The less albums you sell but the more you tour, so for a middle tier
artist who generally doesn't sell an obscene amount of albums but does a lot
of gigs, they would certainly make more touring.

Someone like U2, probably makes more from album sales.

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Kuytu
"1.35/album * 2,000,000 = 2.7 million" It should be noted that especially new
artists often start getting royalties after the costs of making the record and
music videos have been paid. I believe that is a big reason why many one-hit
wonders might sell millions world wide and go broke soon after the success
fades.

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mgrouchy
yes, that's very true too. So after costs, it might be a break even
proposition(or not as much as it might seem anyway) on an album.

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noss
Should we be afraid that if we get used to Spotify and its business model,
then then they will take away music on CDs. And our senses will be dulled so
that we don't notice what they've done until it is gone?

Our should we just pay homage to the fact that grandpa used to have his music
on plastic pieces and could play it even after country music was made illegal
by UN?

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pmichaud
He makes logical points, but I think that his point that Spotify can't be or
do everything we expect from a music player (like play in the car, he says),
will make his main concern moot. He says we're giving too much control to
Spotify because they can cut off the music supply at any time and they decide
what's on the service. That's why spotify will never "take over" the market
completely... it can't fulfill all the market needs, just some of them. People
will use it, and they'll use other services/products in parallel to fill the
need.

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AndrewDucker
I have to say that I love Spotify to bits and can't wait for the offline
client to hit the S60, but I do agree that giving control to any one central
company is a bad idea, and being in a situation where albums just vanish one
day is not good, so I see the poster's problem...

