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As a music purchaser who doesn't torrent music, I like that Spotify lets me try new music in a convenient & legal way. It's a step in the purchasing process, n

As a music purchaser who doesn't torrent music, I like that Spotify lets me try new music in a convenient & legal way. It's a step in the purchasing process, not the final destination. There's a German metal/rock band called Unheilig that I heard about in 2013. After seeing a YouTube clip [1], Spotify / Rdio let me try more of their songs & add them to my playlists. That hooked me enough to add the album to my Spotify offline downloads so I can listen on the train. At that point, I'm a committed fan who doesn't want to lose the album... so that's when I buy the CD. Two years later, I've bought all their albums, 2 limited Super Deluxe editions, t-shirts & hats & merch, and been to two of their concerts. Unheilig probably got nearly nothing from me via Spotify, but it was an important step in getting me hooked & ultimately spending hundreds of dollars. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cl-mvbxAf-k https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cl-mvbxAf-k

6stringmerc 11y ago
Just wanted to say thank you for sharing this personal story, as I really think there are a lot of "music consumers" who think - and act - like you. The funny thing about music is that it, well, has no "inherent value" as soon as it's created. It's a matter of finding an audience that values the music enough to want more. I feel culinary art is sort of similar - there's no "perfect recipe" for a successful restaurant. If there's an audience, there's demand, and just because, in theory, somebody could make the same dish at home (i.e. download a pirate / clone recipe) doesn't mean the original loses all its merit. I'll admit that Napster, to me, was an avenue to find things that I couldn't get my hands on otherwise. My favorite search term was "remix" and I got unreleased / international tracks that I still love to this day. I'm a consistent Beatport Pro customer, about $20 a month, and I buy physical CDs for artists to both help their traditional sales metrics and simply for nostalgia. I can't tell you how happy I was to buy the last Columbia release by Weird Al and be a part of giving him his first #1 album release of his career. Yeah, it's kind of hokey, but that's what's so fun about music - from cradle to grave, there's no shame in loving what we love.

6stringmerc 11y ago

Just wanted to say thank you for sharing this personal story, as I really think there are a lot of "music consumers" who think - and act - like you. The funny thing about music is that it, well, has no "inherent value" as soon as it's created. It's a matter of finding an audience that values the music enough to want more. I feel culinary art is sort of similar - there's no "perfect recipe" for a successful restaurant. If there's an audience, there's demand, and just because, in theory, somebody could make the same dish at home (i.e. download a pirate / clone recipe) doesn't mean the original loses all its merit. I'll admit that Napster, to me, was an avenue to find things that I couldn't get my hands on otherwise. My favorite search term was "remix" and I got unreleased / international tracks that I still love to this day. I'm a consistent Beatport Pro customer, about $20 a month, and I buy physical CDs for artists to both help their traditional sales metrics and simply for nostalgia. I can't tell you how happy I was to buy the last Columbia release by Weird Al and be a part of giving him his first #1 album release of his career. Yeah, it's kind of hokey, but that's what's so fun about music - from cradle to grave, there's no shame in loving what we love.