Why Spotify Might Die
Anecdote isn’t data, but my experience with Spotify has been that as the adverts have increased in frequency (apparently not to the point where free users make them a profit) I’ve used it less and less. I’ve been vaguely tempted by the premium service but not quite enough to seal the deal. What’s stopping me?
- Lack of portability
- Lack of work access (not Spotify’s fault this!)
- Not great at announcing new music or additions except in huge indigestible lumps.
- Incomplete catalogues of major artists make playlists more frustrating than they oughta be. OK, you can’t get the Beatles, but Kate Bush (say) has been on the same label most of her career so how come you only have half her albums?
- Vague sensation that they aren’t very on the ball WRT licensing urban and dance music, which are exactly the kind of areas I really want a streaming service for (tho YouTube works fine)
Also, a service will come along that does Spotify better - that service may be Spotify itself. It may resolve some of the problems I’ve identified, it may cut a better deal with the biz, who knows. The ideas of streaming music and collections in the cloud seem unlikely to go away: so I can’t get too upset at one service’s putative loss. Spotify is my current favourite brand in this market, but it’s not a brand I unreservedly love.
