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Spotify: Provide service that costs labor, resources, licensing, etc. Spotify: Use ads for non-paying users to help cover the costs Freeloading Users: Use thi

Spotify: Provide service that costs labor, resources, licensing, etc. Spotify: Use ads for non-paying users to help cover the costs Freeloading Users: Use third party software to sidestep this source of revenue, essentially getting the product for free. Spotify: Ban these users. Freeloading Users: shocked_pikachu.jpg

Nullabillity 8y ago
> costs labor Neglegible marginal impact. Nevermind that most of this manpower seems to be wasted on adtech and bullshit redesigns. Their service sure hasn't improved recently. > resources This was completely self-inflicted. They used to run a p2p network, they chose to shut that down. That's fine, but they can't blame that on their users. > licensing Spotify's licensing budget is a fixed percentage of their revenue. A user that doesn't bring in any revenue won't increase their licensing costs. I guess artists could opt out if they thought their licensing slice was too small, but that's effectively career suicide. Just look at Prince.
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
- owenversteeg 8y ago
  > I guess artists could opt out if they thought their licensing slice was too small, but that's effectively career suicide. Just look at Prince. What do you mean? Prince only took his music off spotify for about a year before he died. Was there a very obvious effect on his career in this time?
  - Nullabillity 8y ago
    > What do you mean? Prince only took his music off spotify for about a year before he died. Prince took a pretty hard stance against online music, in all of its forms, from the beginning. > Was there a very obvious effect on his career in this time? I have never listened to any of his songs, accidentally or intentionally. I have never heard anyone talk about his songs. The only time I have ever seen him mentioned online was when he died. Anecdotal of course, but that's pretty impressive for a supposed superstar.
some_random 8y ago
Spotify: Serves arbitrary, third-party content through known malware vector. Users: Blocks known malware vector. Spotify and 'the usual' HN crowd: shocked_pikachu.jpg
- djohnston 8y ago
  can you elaborate? TCP is also a known malware vector.
  - g45y45 8y ago
    https://community.spotify.com/t5/Ongoing-Issues/Spotify-Free-ads-causes-browser-to-launch-on-malware-virus/idi-p/1461222 https://community.spotify.com/t5/Ongoing-Issues/Spotify-Free... Literally this service delivered malware in 2016. You are permitting spotify to distribute adverstising malware.
    - djohnston 8y ago
      interesting, seems like it was patched quite quickly. what proportion of ad-blocking users are security-conscious engineers vs people who are simply trying to avoid ads?
      - g45y45 8y ago
        Does it matter? What is important is that users are not getting their PC's ransomwared. If a desire to not look at ads also results in less ransomwared PCs, Win Win!
- judge2020 8y ago
  At least now, Spotify can only be downloaded in the Windows store (they discontinued use of the desktop application on Windows 10). As I understand it, W store apps are sandboxed, so something like this reasonably isn't possible anymore (at least without an escape exploit)?
  - 8y ago

Nullabillity 8y ago

> costs labor Neglegible marginal impact. Nevermind that most of this manpower seems to be wasted on adtech and bullshit redesigns. Their service sure hasn't improved recently. > resources This was completely self-inflicted. They used to run a p2p network, they chose to shut that down. That's fine, but they can't blame that on their users. > licensing Spotify's licensing budget is a fixed percentage of their revenue. A user that doesn't bring in any revenue won't increase their licensing costs. I guess artists could opt out if they thought their licensing slice was too small, but that's effectively career suicide. Just look at Prince.

deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
owenversteeg 8y ago
> I guess artists could opt out if they thought their licensing slice was too small, but that's effectively career suicide. Just look at Prince. What do you mean? Prince only took his music off spotify for about a year before he died. Was there a very obvious effect on his career in this time?
- Nullabillity 8y ago
  > What do you mean? Prince only took his music off spotify for about a year before he died. Prince took a pretty hard stance against online music, in all of its forms, from the beginning. > Was there a very obvious effect on his career in this time? I have never listened to any of his songs, accidentally or intentionally. I have never heard anyone talk about his songs. The only time I have ever seen him mentioned online was when he died. Anecdotal of course, but that's pretty impressive for a supposed superstar.

some_random 8y ago

Spotify: Serves arbitrary, third-party content through known malware vector. Users: Blocks known malware vector. Spotify and 'the usual' HN crowd: shocked_pikachu.jpg

djohnston 8y ago
can you elaborate? TCP is also a known malware vector.
- g45y45 8y ago
  https://community.spotify.com/t5/Ongoing-Issues/Spotify-Free-ads-causes-browser-to-launch-on-malware-virus/idi-p/1461222 https://community.spotify.com/t5/Ongoing-Issues/Spotify-Free... Literally this service delivered malware in 2016. You are permitting spotify to distribute adverstising malware.
  - djohnston 8y ago
    interesting, seems like it was patched quite quickly. what proportion of ad-blocking users are security-conscious engineers vs people who are simply trying to avoid ads?
    - g45y45 8y ago
      Does it matter? What is important is that users are not getting their PC's ransomwared. If a desire to not look at ads also results in less ransomwared PCs, Win Win!
judge2020 8y ago
At least now, Spotify can only be downloaded in the Windows store (they discontinued use of the desktop application on Windows 10). As I understand it, W store apps are sandboxed, so something like this reasonably isn't possible anymore (at least without an escape exploit)?
- 8y ago