Entertainment For Lively Minds
Warners music to leave Free Spotify?
Per the BBC
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/8507885.stm
Warner chief executive Edgar Bronfman Jr said: "Free streaming services are clearly not net positive for the industry and as far as Warner Music is concerned will not be licensed.
"The get all your music you want for free, and then maybe with a few bells and whistles we can move you to a premium price strategy, is not the kind of approach to business that we will be supporting in the future."It is not clear whether Warner will remove its music from existing services or decline to do deals with new outlets.
Could this be the beginning of the end for non-subscription supported services? Wouldn't be surprised - couldn't really see how it was long term in the labels interest.
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That's all folks?
I think Warner Music Group were the first (and biggest) company to get cold feet about YouTube too, silencing any video which had a soundtrack with some link to their company. They have their own channel though.
Warners
I suspect this could have a silver lining for Spotify, in that it might encourage premium take-up.
Premium take up
is too expensive for me. A tenner a month doesn't seem like a lot but I'm a casual user of Spotify. Some months I use it more, usually to check something out before I buy it (or don't). I think that if I was forced to make the decision to pay I'd probably not bother and go, happily, back to that time when I used my ipod to listen to music at work.
Though I suppose that if I get could get Spotify in my car and at home without having to use my laptop (which has crappy sound) and without having to buy yet another piece of kit, then I'd consider it. A <£50.00 gizmo I could plug into my stereo, for example or, even better, an all-in-one new ipod which could access the service and give me 120 lovely gigs of storage.
Try Napster to Go
It works on most WMP type players (eg Creative). I got mine (30GB) for about £60 and I'm sure you can get bigger for only a little bit more.
It gives you unlimited streaming of a far bigger catalogue than Spotify to up to three computers (with no ads).
It allows up to three mobile devices as well so you can use it in the car.
The whole family can use it in some form for one payment of £15 a month (mine do).
The downside about Napster is its p**s poor marketing that has allowed the likes of Spotify to steal all the glory for what is actually a less attractive product.
See previous thread:
http://www.wordmagazine.co.uk/content/spotify-not-new-just-better-napste...
I use spotify in the car
I Simply plug in my iphone to the AUX and run the Spotify app on it.
Works perfect, especially with the cache functionality. €10/month is very little to have access to all this music.
Warner is doing what has been tried, and failed, before; Fighting against progress. Sony tried stopping the VHS system. The Church didn't want to allow the book press or accept the world as round.
Hands Up
Since using Spoitfy I've almost stopped buying music. I'm a prime candidate for premium and will make the move when I get a new phone.
The thing is, I own so much bloody music and I no longer care about the latest "thing" unless that "thing" radically challenges what's gone before. There's a fair chance I could forget about the premium Spotify and still not buy any new music.
By the way. The new edition is really bloody lovely.
Fair Enough
Are Warner aiming to remove their music from the likes of Spotify altogether, or just the free component (i.e. so premium subscribers could access it)?
I've got to be honest, much as I love Spotify, I've never been able to see how either they nor the music labels could make enough money from it to be worthwhile. The royalties payable are incredibly small, by all accounts, so presumably only the biggest artists and labels are making anything at all. And Spotify themselves, by offering an excellent free service, are giving too much away and not offering enough of an incentive to become a premium user. Just about the only thing I could pretty much guarantee me becoming a premium user would be a decent number of downloads factored into the subscription cost, and I don't imagine that's viable.
If the music industry is to remain viable as a business, I'm not convinced the Spotify approach is the future.
Comment from 'Andreas' on Spotify forum
Andres, Official Rep, replied 9 hours ago
Hi all,
To be clear; Warner Music Group is not pulling out of its current agreement with Spotify in Europe. Some comments were taken out of context by the media and there's no need to worry.
Andres
Spotify
Confusing this ere 21st century lark innit?
Flawed business model
I love Spotify. And yet I don't pay. Yet there are circumstances in which I'd be more than willing to pay - if they just came up with a package to support the casual listener. Nobody wants to sign up to a regular annuity when they might only dip in in a particular month. Fix that and the revenue line will grow imv.