6 ms·

I think this is the wrong approach. If they have issues with people abusing the revenue model by publishing white noise and generating fake plays - go after th

I think this is the wrong approach. If they have issues with people abusing the revenue model by publishing white noise and generating fake plays - go after that. However the 1K streams per track thing is going to negatively impact small artists who might have relatively large collections, but few over 1K annual streams. If it's a processing cost issue then make it so that payouts need to meet some reasonable minimum threshold. > between $1 and $2 will be added to monthly bills for customers in several territories, including the UK, Australia, and Pakistan, Bloomburg reports. This is said to cover the cost of audiobooks, added to the platform late-2023. More recently, video learning content was introduced to further diversify the offering. I don't want, and never wanted, Audiobooks or Podcasts or News or other crap on the music app. They mention that there will be another tier added which doesn't have these -- great, so long as it keeps the audio quality for music at the same level, and doesn't have ads.

HenryBemis 3y ago
> I don't want, and never wanted, Audiobooks or Podcasts or News or other crap on the music app. Regarding Spotify, which I use daily, I also dislike their updates. I remember some months back I could disable/hide "Recommendations". Now in all my (personal & private) playlists I get a list of Recommendations. It's an annoyance because when I scroll fast to reach the bottom "to listen to that one song" it end up surfing the Recommendations (did I mention I dislike them?). So, it makes me want to go to apkpure, find an apk from 2020 and use THAT (slim chance it'll work) because most updates are "to increase engagement" (pester you/me/all) with 'new and exciting content!!!' (bleh) Sidenote: for podcasts I am using a 2021 version of the Podcast Addict (the one displaying the full screen ad)(which you can block with NoRoot Firewall)
- snailmailman 3y ago
  My Spotify app almost daily shows me a full screen advertisement for some new album when I open the app. It is clearly labeled sponsored content. I can then click a tiny 3 dots menu, click “stop showing me this” and “I don’t want to see sponsored content” and it will say “sure thing! We will no longer show you these” and the next day it will show me a new advertisement and I repeat the process. So annoying. The whole premise of premium is that there are no ads! But now I’m constantly getting visual ads in the app. Every artists page has ads for their merch. Spotify notifies me about exclusive merch for artists I listen to. And is constantly trying to get me to go to concerts of artists I listen to.
  - HenryBemis 3y ago
    "NoRoot Firewall" and I have allowed IPs and URLs that I've trialed-and-errored to Allow. Then . to block everything else. Fun fact: most of the garbage/ads/albums/pushes/etc, as well as your Annual Wrap-Up (or whatever it is called) it is provided by a tracker (I can't remember/see because I haven't individually blocked it - it's blocked under the . rule)(first 10-15 IPs & URLs are allowed, all else is blocked). I believe that using an Android phone without a Firewall must be a horrible experience/it increases the positive experience by A LOT. It also helps to see which apps are sneaky and run on their own - even if you disable the 'background run' (e.g. TuneIn Radio starts itself bypassing battery/power settings)
- avtolik 3y ago
  I really like Podcast Addict. Its price is like 10$ per year to hide a small ad on the bottom and to get a choice which screen is the first to show.
  - HenryBemis 3y ago
    I got no prob paying for apps (I buy/subscribe to all of them). I simply hate it when I pay them, and they merely 'hide the add' but still 'talk' to adjust, googletagmanager, and so many other advertisers/trackers.
- ben_w 3y ago
  "Recommendations" never seem even close to what I want, on any platform. The worst is Facebook (I have friends and family who don't use any other mode for regular contact), where it often behaves as if the ideal way to engage me is, in order of appearance on the timeline: • "People you may know" (usually devoid of people I've ever even met, and when I do know them they're not people I'm going to add) • One real post • A suggestion of a corporation or group to follow • An advert for something I'm not even capable of getting ("Are you an American living in the UK who wants to renounce their citizenship for tax purposes?" — no on all counts) • Three more suggestions of a corporation or group to follow • More ads for things even less relevant than the email spam I got in 1998 -- Even YouTube, where I can recognise the value by comparing what I see when I'm logged in to not logged in, the recommendations are still only 50% useful and 50% dross. (Not logged in it's 98% dross, and yes I did just count 50 items before finding one video I might watch in order to not be a statistic made up on the spot).
VS1999 3y ago
This is an issue I've seen with every platform that primarily exists online. They buy every digital service and increase prices with or without the customer's consent. Aside from being annoying and largely pointless, it's anti-competitive because if you subscribe to Spotify you are discouraged from subscribing to some other, better podcast service you actually want because you're already paying for one. It gets even worse as more services get bundled together.
- _3u10 3y ago
  You’re free to cancel, and I’m sure customer service would give you the refund on the extra cost for the first month. I’ve noticed this in restaurants too, they just change the price like a normal business in an inflationary environment. I bet you get raises too, or ask for them and move on if you don’t get them.
  - VS1999 3y ago
    I have no idea how that relates to what I wrote. Edit: Actually I see now, you're replying to where I said they bought services and raised prices without the customer consent. If we're using a restaurant comparison, it'd be like your local burger shop raising prices because your meal comes bundled with discounted carwashes. Consumers generally don't want bundles, they want to buy the thing they're interested in.
    - lotsofpulp 3y ago
      > Consumers generally don't want bundles, they want to buy the thing they're interested in. They have been able to buy the individual song for $1 to $2 for a long time.
      - VS1999 3y ago
        I mean bundling unrelated services. A subscription to just access all the music is pretty useful if you want to listen to music, but then they decide it should also be attached to a subscription of cloud gaming, shopping, podcasts, it becomes anti-consumer. Eventually you won't be able to just subscribe to the thing you want, but you'll also have to rent the kitchen sink.
iamacyborg 3y ago
Just cancel your Spotify subscription. I did, and now use a combination of Roon and Tidal. I have a much better listening and discovery experience through Roon and artists get paid more with Tidal.
- wkat4242 3y ago
  The problem is that Spotify is the only one that really works well on Foss with libspotify / spotify-qt. All the others don't have clients for my OS and I don't have DRM in my browser which they require.
  - iamacyborg 3y ago
    Ah annoying, I'd assumed Roon had a Linux client but it appears not to, despite having a compatible server and a bridge client.
- vachina 3y ago
  lol. Tidal, the guys that tried to sell us snake oil like MQA. That said you sound like a Meridian shill.
  - iamacyborg 3y ago
    Err, thanks. Heaven forbid someone shares software that they actually like.
- shmageggy 3y ago
  If only Tidal (or Qobuz, or...) would implement a Connect feature that allows me to control my PC desktop from mobile, then I would, but it's been on the "promised features" list for years now. It's a deal-breaker for me.
  - wokkel 3y ago
    I use deezer and when I play a track on mobile I can continue it on PC. Is that what you mean?
vmfunction 3y ago
All that is listed are what reasonable customer and people would have assumed. However, things in corporate world seems to have the mind of it's own. It is normally in the interest of centralisation in the name of efficiency, and sadly at cost of human productivity and buyer and seller interests.

HenryBemis 3y ago

> I don't want, and never wanted, Audiobooks or Podcasts or News or other crap on the music app. Regarding Spotify, which I use daily, I also dislike their updates. I remember some months back I could disable/hide "Recommendations". Now in all my (personal & private) playlists I get a list of Recommendations. It's an annoyance because when I scroll fast to reach the bottom "to listen to that one song" it end up surfing the Recommendations (did I mention I dislike them?). So, it makes me want to go to apkpure, find an apk from 2020 and use THAT (slim chance it'll work) because most updates are "to increase engagement" (pester you/me/all) with 'new and exciting content!!!' (bleh) Sidenote: for podcasts I am using a 2021 version of the Podcast Addict (the one displaying the full screen ad)(which you can block with NoRoot Firewall)

snailmailman 3y ago
My Spotify app almost daily shows me a full screen advertisement for some new album when I open the app. It is clearly labeled sponsored content. I can then click a tiny 3 dots menu, click “stop showing me this” and “I don’t want to see sponsored content” and it will say “sure thing! We will no longer show you these” and the next day it will show me a new advertisement and I repeat the process. So annoying. The whole premise of premium is that there are no ads! But now I’m constantly getting visual ads in the app. Every artists page has ads for their merch. Spotify notifies me about exclusive merch for artists I listen to. And is constantly trying to get me to go to concerts of artists I listen to.
- HenryBemis 3y ago
  "NoRoot Firewall" and I have allowed IPs and URLs that I've trialed-and-errored to Allow. Then . to block everything else. Fun fact: most of the garbage/ads/albums/pushes/etc, as well as your Annual Wrap-Up (or whatever it is called) it is provided by a tracker (I can't remember/see because I haven't individually blocked it - it's blocked under the . rule)(first 10-15 IPs & URLs are allowed, all else is blocked). I believe that using an Android phone without a Firewall must be a horrible experience/it increases the positive experience by A LOT. It also helps to see which apps are sneaky and run on their own - even if you disable the 'background run' (e.g. TuneIn Radio starts itself bypassing battery/power settings)
avtolik 3y ago
I really like Podcast Addict. Its price is like 10$ per year to hide a small ad on the bottom and to get a choice which screen is the first to show.
- HenryBemis 3y ago
  I got no prob paying for apps (I buy/subscribe to all of them). I simply hate it when I pay them, and they merely 'hide the add' but still 'talk' to adjust, googletagmanager, and so many other advertisers/trackers.
ben_w 3y ago
"Recommendations" never seem even close to what I want, on any platform. The worst is Facebook (I have friends and family who don't use any other mode for regular contact), where it often behaves as if the ideal way to engage me is, in order of appearance on the timeline: • "People you may know" (usually devoid of people I've ever even met, and when I do know them they're not people I'm going to add) • One real post • A suggestion of a corporation or group to follow • An advert for something I'm not even capable of getting ("Are you an American living in the UK who wants to renounce their citizenship for tax purposes?" — no on all counts) • Three more suggestions of a corporation or group to follow • More ads for things even less relevant than the email spam I got in 1998 -- Even YouTube, where I can recognise the value by comparing what I see when I'm logged in to not logged in, the recommendations are still only 50% useful and 50% dross. (Not logged in it's 98% dross, and yes I did just count 50 items before finding one video I might watch in order to not be a statistic made up on the spot).

VS1999 3y ago

This is an issue I've seen with every platform that primarily exists online. They buy every digital service and increase prices with or without the customer's consent. Aside from being annoying and largely pointless, it's anti-competitive because if you subscribe to Spotify you are discouraged from subscribing to some other, better podcast service you actually want because you're already paying for one. It gets even worse as more services get bundled together.

_3u10 3y ago
You’re free to cancel, and I’m sure customer service would give you the refund on the extra cost for the first month. I’ve noticed this in restaurants too, they just change the price like a normal business in an inflationary environment. I bet you get raises too, or ask for them and move on if you don’t get them.
- VS1999 3y ago
  I have no idea how that relates to what I wrote. Edit: Actually I see now, you're replying to where I said they bought services and raised prices without the customer consent. If we're using a restaurant comparison, it'd be like your local burger shop raising prices because your meal comes bundled with discounted carwashes. Consumers generally don't want bundles, they want to buy the thing they're interested in.
  - lotsofpulp 3y ago
    > Consumers generally don't want bundles, they want to buy the thing they're interested in. They have been able to buy the individual song for $1 to $2 for a long time.
    - VS1999 3y ago
      I mean bundling unrelated services. A subscription to just access all the music is pretty useful if you want to listen to music, but then they decide it should also be attached to a subscription of cloud gaming, shopping, podcasts, it becomes anti-consumer. Eventually you won't be able to just subscribe to the thing you want, but you'll also have to rent the kitchen sink.

iamacyborg 3y ago

Just cancel your Spotify subscription. I did, and now use a combination of Roon and Tidal. I have a much better listening and discovery experience through Roon and artists get paid more with Tidal.

wkat4242 3y ago
The problem is that Spotify is the only one that really works well on Foss with libspotify / spotify-qt. All the others don't have clients for my OS and I don't have DRM in my browser which they require.
- iamacyborg 3y ago
  Ah annoying, I'd assumed Roon had a Linux client but it appears not to, despite having a compatible server and a bridge client.
vachina 3y ago
lol. Tidal, the guys that tried to sell us snake oil like MQA. That said you sound like a Meridian shill.
- iamacyborg 3y ago
  Err, thanks. Heaven forbid someone shares software that they actually like.
shmageggy 3y ago
If only Tidal (or Qobuz, or...) would implement a Connect feature that allows me to control my PC desktop from mobile, then I would, but it's been on the "promised features" list for years now. It's a deal-breaker for me.
- wokkel 3y ago
  I use deezer and when I play a track on mobile I can continue it on PC. Is that what you mean?

vmfunction 3y ago

All that is listed are what reasonable customer and people would have assumed. However, things in corporate world seems to have the mind of it's own. It is normally in the interest of centralisation in the name of efficiency, and sadly at cost of human productivity and buyer and seller interests.