SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
Spotify soars to 320 million listeners, with 144 million paid members:
Spotify soared past a worldwide listener milestone as the number of people using the service climbed 29% to 320 million in the third quarter, the music streaming service said Thursday. Excluding anyone who listens free with advertising, Spotify's paid members also rose 27% to 144 million, the company said.
The latest figures further cement Spotify as the world's biggest subscription music service.
How does it compare to p2p these days?
This discussion has been archived.
No new comments can be posted.
Spotify Soars to 320 Million Listeners, with 144 Million Paid Members
|
Log In/Create an Account
| Top
| 22 comments
| Search Discussion
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
(1)
(1)
Life is not for everyone.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Friday October 30 2020, @12:13PM (11 children)
About like you'd expect. It's much more convenient and easier to find non-popular tracks and artists but you don't own what you pay for. Now downloading $foo from YouTube and running it through ffmpeg to turn the video into audio? That's vastly superior to either mentioned alternative.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by FatPhil on Friday October 30 2020, @12:40PM (10 children)
Or... How about buying and owning over 1000 CDs over the last few decades and ripping them onto your NAS?
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 30 2020, @02:22PM (4 children)
If you own the CD's, it's legal (in Canada, at least...last i heard) to download from Piratebay etc and MUCH quicker than ripping.
I started ripping Battlestar Galactica from DVD then realized: "Shit, what a waste of time!". Downloaded the series in noooo time at all.
Posting anonymously because i know shit about the law as it stands now, in this ever changing, ever threatening world we live in, mumble grumble hassa fracking rickin rackin....
(Score: 5, Interesting) by FatPhil on Friday October 30 2020, @03:35PM (3 children)
This has had the terrible side effect of me having to grab whole discographies from minority artists when I only wanted one album, then then buying several more albums when I realised I liked their whole oeuvre, or at least wide periods of it.
Public service announcement: When local live venues re-open - support the bands that play there, and from the bands you like - *buy merch*. (And buy lots of beer at the venue, as the venue needs supporting too.)
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Saturday October 31 2020, @10:14PM (2 children)
Most of the bands I dig are either broken up, retired, or dead.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Monday November 02 2020, @04:53PM (1 child)
Essentially all the same thing, except, two of those are reversible.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 3, Funny) by The Mighty Buzzard on Tuesday November 03 2020, @04:03PM
All three are. Evidence: Keith Richards.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Friday October 30 2020, @03:06PM (2 children)
Doesn't youtube-dl depend on having ffmpeg?
I'm asking, uh, for a friend. Yeah, that's it! For a friend.
I seem to see youtube-dl using ffmpeg on
mythe friend's Pixelbook (chrome os) with Linux.I don't seem to remember the name of the friend.
Why is it that when I hold a stick, everyone begins to look like a pinata?
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Friday October 30 2020, @03:27PM (1 child)
However, if all you want is mid/low-res pre-muxed content (usually 720p, so decent enough for most things), then no muxing is needed, and so ffmpeg is required. Likewise, if all you want is the audio stream, it will happily download that on its own, and without any muxing task to do, no ffmpeg is needed.
A lighter-weight alternative to youtube-dl is Jamie Zawinski's 'youtubedown', which can be fetched from jwz.org. However, that's not quite as up-to-date as youtube-dl, and sometimes doesn't cope. (However, both are always playing catchup with google's retarded obfuscation dipshittery, you might not notice that jwz's slower to update if you're lucky.)
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Friday October 30 2020, @03:56PM
Thanks! I'll pass that on to my friend.
I did notice that ffmpeg is being used to re-mux.
Why is it that when I hold a stick, everyone begins to look like a pinata?
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Friday October 30 2020, @06:53PM (1 child)
Wife has Spotify so I use that to check out new stuff. Also, KEXP out of Seattle streams online for free and is awesome for finding new music! [kexp.org] (free plug I guess)
New stuff I like I buy as MP3s and store on a 120 gb sd card on my phone. I do a lot of camping and sailing and stuff out in the mountains so I like local storage in addition to ownership.
Old stuff from dead people I'll usually "pirate" their whole discography when it's available. I like a lot of blues and jazz and I'm not paying hundreds of dollars to get everything from an artist.
When I'm buying stuff I can usually find it on the Amazon MP3 store which they don't make very obvious that it even exists. It's there though and it works pretty good if you need to deal with actual Satan and all.
How is the audio quality on stuff ripped from YouTube? Seems like it would be crappy...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 31 2020, @12:39PM
It depends on the particular upload. "Official" stuff is usually high quality.
(Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 30 2020, @01:20PM (1 child)
Ask Alex Jones [bbc.co.uk]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 30 2020, @05:44PM
What's your point. BBC and that article are disgusting. Anyone who can't see through their propaganda is a pitiful slave.
(Score: 2) by looorg on Friday October 30 2020, @01:43PM (1 child)
It's kind of interesting if they only manage to monetize about 1/4 listeners/users. That 1/4 more or less pays for the entire service and development. I guess they get a few clicks/listens/eyeballs etc from the others on the non-paid but ad-supported version.
Even tho it was just a few days ago that other service said they didn't care about people using non-sanctioned versions of the application that offered saving and not displaying ads. I guess Spotify have the same issues, in the past they have been I guess more aggressive in trying to deal with that issue but it's probably a doomed fight.
I guess other services might have similar numbers, after all how many people have not torrented a Netflix show etc or how many people will today download the second season of the Mandalorian instead of subbing to Disney+. So overall views compared to people that pay for it might be somewhat similar. Which I guess brings back the question that perhaps they should lower the cost to attract more customers? Or they are just fine with the way things are.
(Score: 2) by zoward on Friday October 30 2020, @07:13PM
I guess I'd assumed the ads on the ad-supported tier make it profitable. I suppose it's possible it's not quite profitable but works as a "gateway drug", getting people to eventually subscribe?
(Score: 2) by Snospar on Friday October 30 2020, @02:16PM (4 children)
How are the artists doing in this new world? I've done some Googling but didn't come up with anything conclusive, it all soon get's mired in the rights holders vs. song writers vs. performers debate. Seems equally confusing when trying to compare which service pays out more per subscriber. Anybody close to this industry here?
Huge thanks to all the Soylent volunteers without whom this community (and this post) would not be possible.
(Score: 3, Funny) by DannyB on Friday October 30 2020, @03:12PM
I'm sure the online services and the RIAA have something worked out. After various collection society dues and fees, handling, and other costs, some money eventually* finds its way into the hands of the artists.
*eventually, meaning in not less than one quarter of a galactic rotation [wikipedia.org]
Why is it that when I hold a stick, everyone begins to look like a pinata?
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Friday October 30 2020, @06:42PM (1 child)
A lot of them are definitely hurting from the lack of live shows!
Although that is presumably what drove this increase in Spotify so whatever pittance they get there has likely increased a bit.
You can judge for yourself whether it's a good deal: What Streaming Music Services Pay Artists 2020 update [onyrix.com]
(Score: 2) by zoward on Friday October 30 2020, @07:21PM
(Score: 2) by gawdonblue on Friday October 30 2020, @11:16PM
About a year ago I was talking to a muso from a popular band about Spotify and how very popular his band was on it, and hinted he must be doing alright. His response was that they make SFA directly from Spotify, but Spotify is used to determine which acts get which cut at music festivals, and that was good for his band as they loved playing live and headlined quite a few festivals.
I hope they're getting more from Spotify now, because the festivals are not happening and are unlikely to be viable anytime soon.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Subsentient on Friday October 30 2020, @09:35PM
Music can be therapeutic in painful times, so makes sense people are turning to streaming services.
I just noticed on Pandora that one of my favorite bands (Draconian) has released their new album a day early (Under a Godless Veil), and I bought a digital copy for $10.
Lots of metal bands are releasing albums around now. Dark Tranquillity with Phantom Days, Paradise Lost with Obsidian, and now Draconian with Under a Godless Veil, it's a good time to be a metalhead.
Thing is though, I know that these artists are releasing this music because they're being especially inspired by the incredible misery in the world right now. Metal has always been therapeutic for the miserable, so I suppose it fits.
"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society." -Jiddu Krishnamurti