This is the main reason that I'm not very concerned about this change. These changes suck, but everyone I know who uses Spotify has premium, and to be honest, I couldn't use non-premium, even...
This is the main reason that I'm not very concerned about this change. These changes suck, but everyone I know who uses Spotify has premium, and to be honest, I couldn't use non-premium, even before these changes. The forced shuffle play is infuriating.
I think Spotify has it's problems, but I don't feel like their free tier is the biggest issue.
Edit: Actually, I do have a concern about this. If Spotify free diverges too much from premium, to the point where it stops being essentially a free trial of premium, it seems like people would try free and dislike it, dismissing the possibility of getting premium.
Another concern is if they push these changes to premium. Moment that happens, I'm gone. I've been building up a local music collection, I wouldn't mind keeping it up-to-date, or moving to Google Play Music, or whatever other alternatives there are.
Yeah, if they ever messed with premium like this they'd have a mass exodus of users immediately. I don't pay for a shit UX when the UX is all that's keeping me from the competition.
Yeah, if they ever messed with premium like this they'd have a mass exodus of users immediately. I don't pay for a shit UX when the UX is all that's keeping me from the competition.
The above is a link to a list of issues with the "new" Spotify Free update compiled by Reddit user slendernyan. I say "new" because it seems to have been staggered over a period of many months,...
The above is a link to a list of issues with the "new" Spotify Free update compiled by Reddit user slendernyan. I say "new" because it seems to have been staggered over a period of many months, much like Reddit's own much-maligned UI update was deployed.
Among the issues listed in this complaint are the following:
Many of the best music-finding features, such as Radio and Browse, have been hidden or removed entirely. Browse has been relegated to a position on the Search bar (a change that I view with ambivalence), while Radio is completely gone. In its place is the Premium tab, which is basically a giant, tab-sized ad for Premium. This alone would be enough to let off red flares everywhere. But it gets worse.
QOL features, like being able to see the length of, and number of songs in, playlists, are gone. The Search function has been changed so that, instead of going to an album containing the song you search, you go to a page for the song itself, so that if you want to pull additional songs from the full disc, you have to do continued taps to reach the album. In addition, you can sometimes find "suggested" songs mixed in with the rest of the playlist.
Finally, interesting and cool features have been broken or removed by this update. "Behind the Lyrics," a neat way to see the thought process and consequences of famous songs, no longer works in this version. The Queue is gone. And the ability to play either an artist's full work (for discovery purposes) or just the songs you have saved from that artist, is gone.
Spotify is clearly attempting to go down the route of Instagram and other apps before it. It adds blank space where before there were features and good design, it removes features that used to be a part of everyone's experience, and it adds unnecessary bits that weaken the experience.
Worst of all? This was a Spotify Free update - only. Premium users not only have their previous feature bonuses, but now the addition of a well-designed and built app for their sole use. Those using the free version are stuck with this current mess.
I'm not surprised. I don't know if Spotify is making a profit yet (they definitely weren't a few years ago, along with every other streaming music company), but if they are they're just barely...
I'm not surprised. I don't know if Spotify is making a profit yet (they definitely weren't a few years ago, along with every other streaming music company), but if they are they're just barely breaking even. A free streaming platform just isn't a sustainable business model even if you plaster it with ads, you just get totally drowned by the licensing costs. This article is from three years ago, but even then free users only made up 10.1% of their income. Meanwhile, roughly 84% of their income went directly towards paying the music industry. It makes sense that they'd try everything in their power to push people towards getting a subscription, and that's what every single change here is trying to do.
What can we do to stop this?
Get a couple hundred million dollars and give it to Spotify and tell them to cut it out?
IDK, without a different monetization model I don't think there's anything that could convince Spotify to not neuter their free app. I'm sure they'd cut the free app entirely if they thought they could afford to lose that chunk of revenue.
They're losing money faster than ever. Their Q2 2018 report says: That's losing over 150 million dollars per month! The tech industry is completely bizarre to me, how is that considered a...
Net loss for the quarter roughly doubled to €394 million ($461 million), versus €188 million in Q2 2017, on higher finance expenses.
That's losing over 150 million dollars per month! The tech industry is completely bizarre to me, how is that considered a successful business that people want to invest in?
Good god, i wasn't expecting it to be worse! The only thing keeping them afloat now is investors who are interested in Spotify's massive community, just like every other tech startup in the world....
Good god, i wasn't expecting it to be worse!
The only thing keeping them afloat now is investors who are interested in Spotify's massive community, just like every other tech startup in the world. I know many people who use Spotify to listen to music almost exclusively.
What I don't understand is why Spotify isn't doing more to focus on their power user segment -- I would gladly pay a considerable amount more per month if I had access to better listening tools and data.
Oof, if the numbers in the article are accurate, the free tier is only 9.4% of Spotify's income (probably less including other miscellaneous income), despite being 54% of the total userbase. No...
Oof, if the numbers in the article are accurate, the free tier is only 9.4% of Spotify's income (probably less including other miscellaneous income), despite being 54% of the total userbase. No wonder.
I honestly don't understand the point of complaining about something you get for free. If you don't like the changes to the free version, then pay for the premium version. Spotify (or any other...
I honestly don't understand the point of complaining about something you get for free. If you don't like the changes to the free version, then pay for the premium version.
Spotify (or any other company for that matter) are not beholden to the desires of people who aren't giving them money for the service.
This is the main reason that I'm not very concerned about this change. These changes suck, but everyone I know who uses Spotify has premium, and to be honest, I couldn't use non-premium, even before these changes. The forced shuffle play is infuriating.
I think Spotify has it's problems, but I don't feel like their free tier is the biggest issue.
Edit: Actually, I do have a concern about this. If Spotify free diverges too much from premium, to the point where it stops being essentially a free trial of premium, it seems like people would try free and dislike it, dismissing the possibility of getting premium.
Another concern is if they push these changes to premium. Moment that happens, I'm gone. I've been building up a local music collection, I wouldn't mind keeping it up-to-date, or moving to Google Play Music, or whatever other alternatives there are.
Yeah, if they ever messed with premium like this they'd have a mass exodus of users immediately. I don't pay for a shit UX when the UX is all that's keeping me from the competition.
The above is a link to a list of issues with the "new" Spotify Free update compiled by Reddit user slendernyan. I say "new" because it seems to have been staggered over a period of many months, much like Reddit's own much-maligned UI update was deployed.
Among the issues listed in this complaint are the following:
Many of the best music-finding features, such as Radio and Browse, have been hidden or removed entirely. Browse has been relegated to a position on the Search bar (a change that I view with ambivalence), while Radio is completely gone. In its place is the Premium tab, which is basically a giant, tab-sized ad for Premium. This alone would be enough to let off red flares everywhere. But it gets worse.
QOL features, like being able to see the length of, and number of songs in, playlists, are gone. The Search function has been changed so that, instead of going to an album containing the song you search, you go to a page for the song itself, so that if you want to pull additional songs from the full disc, you have to do continued taps to reach the album. In addition, you can sometimes find "suggested" songs mixed in with the rest of the playlist.
Finally, interesting and cool features have been broken or removed by this update. "Behind the Lyrics," a neat way to see the thought process and consequences of famous songs, no longer works in this version. The Queue is gone. And the ability to play either an artist's full work (for discovery purposes) or just the songs you have saved from that artist, is gone.
Spotify is clearly attempting to go down the route of Instagram and other apps before it. It adds blank space where before there were features and good design, it removes features that used to be a part of everyone's experience, and it adds unnecessary bits that weaken the experience.
Worst of all? This was a Spotify Free update - only. Premium users not only have their previous feature bonuses, but now the addition of a well-designed and built app for their sole use. Those using the free version are stuck with this current mess.
What can we do to stop this? Clearly posting on the forums is not enough, as this unanswered query from months ago shows, but something has to be done.
I'm not surprised. I don't know if Spotify is making a profit yet (they definitely weren't a few years ago, along with every other streaming music company), but if they are they're just barely breaking even. A free streaming platform just isn't a sustainable business model even if you plaster it with ads, you just get totally drowned by the licensing costs. This article is from three years ago, but even then free users only made up 10.1% of their income. Meanwhile, roughly 84% of their income went directly towards paying the music industry. It makes sense that they'd try everything in their power to push people towards getting a subscription, and that's what every single change here is trying to do.
Get a couple hundred million dollars and give it to Spotify and tell them to cut it out?
IDK, without a different monetization model I don't think there's anything that could convince Spotify to not neuter their free app. I'm sure they'd cut the free app entirely if they thought they could afford to lose that chunk of revenue.
They're losing money faster than ever. Their Q2 2018 report says:
That's losing over 150 million dollars per month! The tech industry is completely bizarre to me, how is that considered a successful business that people want to invest in?
Good god, i wasn't expecting it to be worse!
The only thing keeping them afloat now is investors who are interested in Spotify's massive community, just like every other tech startup in the world. I know many people who use Spotify to listen to music almost exclusively.
What I don't understand is why Spotify isn't doing more to focus on their power user segment -- I would gladly pay a considerable amount more per month if I had access to better listening tools and data.
Oof, if the numbers in the article are accurate, the free tier is only 9.4% of Spotify's income (probably less including other miscellaneous income), despite being 54% of the total userbase. No wonder.
Is this only related to the mobile app? I'm using Spotify Free, but I still have all of those features, and that reddit post is already 3 months old.
This is likely dated but maybe not? I’m a premium user so I have no clue. I’ve always absolutely loved the app, service, and UI/UX.
I honestly don't understand the point of complaining about something you get for free. If you don't like the changes to the free version, then pay for the premium version.
Spotify (or any other company for that matter) are not beholden to the desires of people who aren't giving them money for the service.