>"Spotify might court artists to sidestep record labels, but that only helps for new content. Yet there's other destinations now for emerging artists and future

>"Spotify might court artists to sidestep record labels, but that only helps for new content. Yet there's other destinations now for emerging artists and future fans thereof, and better platforms for discovery." For niche genre enthusiasts, Spotify is more of a convenience than an essential service. We've always been good at promoting stuff through word-of-mouth and genre-focused zines/websites, and we're generally very avid concert-goers with a tendency to buy physical merch at the shows. I could get the majority of my music from Bandcamp, and I do buy a lot of downloads from bands I enjoy, in order to support them directly. Spotify does have an edge in the size (width and depth) of their library, which is extremely handy when you want to play something that you occasionally enjoy, or quickly look up something a friend mentioned. Lately Youtube has been extremely good at adding music to their library however, obviously because of Youtube Music. I also find the trend in Spotify's recommendations to be very "safe", which does make sense. After all, they build their recommendations on what most people listen to, not niche bands with <10K plays for their most popular song. When I first signed up for Spotify Premium, I thought I wouldn't ever need my local collection anymore, because why would I? Spotify had/has the biggest library, right? I'm glad I kept my local collection, because Spotify does get a little weird about removing albums because of rightsholder nonsense, and I've seen new albums just never get added, despite earlier releases being available from the same artists. I still enjoy having millions and millions of tracks available, and their recommendations are decent, if not amazing. But my own curated collection is irreplaceable. But I'm an enthusiast. For more casual listeners, Spotify (or Google Play Music or Apple Music) would cover all their needs for new music and popular classics. And I think Spotify could easily woo artists into direct releases and promote them through their platform.