Those are fair points, and I agree. I think I should have said that Spotify is the same as piracy from an artists POV. It's definitely not illegal for users,

Those are fair points, and I agree. I think I should have said that Spotify is the same as piracy from an artists POV. It's definitely not illegal for users, and it definitely helps with "exposure", but it's not really a platform for making real money with your music, except when it's listened to in massive quantities. For me, it's no different than putting a free album link in Instagram, or when Nine Inch Nails put it on PirateBay as a stunt...