smokeandhoney

https://devil.contact

  • he/him

Some things I like in no particular order: board games, video games, mechanical keyboards, automating stuff with amateur level python, my cat Tabitha, science fiction and fantasy novels, live music but only if I already know the songs



MelloMakes
@MelloMakes

Spotify's aim with the unspeakable move of demonetizing songs that don't get 1,000 streams a year was to discourage spammy uploads on the platform.

What it's actually doing a month later is not stopping that spam which was always going to occur, hurting most musicians on the platform (everyone but a fortunate 14% or so) and creating this cottage industry of "playlist community/promotion" dudes who are not real promoters. They promise chances of popular playlist placement for money or putting you on their community playlist with... everyone else who paid them, I'm sure real people definitely listen to that. These people always existed, but now they have this real fear of not breaking the 1000-stream barrier to use as leverage.

If you use Spotify to listen to "smaller artists" (hell, I still have some tracks that probably don't get 1000 streams a year), forget the percentage of a cent thing--they might not be getting paid at all.

P.S. We still don't understand if that means you have to hit 1000 plays every year, or within 12 months of this change, or what. If anyone knows let me know, lol.


ewie
@ewie

the article mentions at the end they’re also raising the fucking cost of the subscription1. so let me get this straight, they’re literally fucking 86% of artists on the platform and they have the fucking gall to also charge people more for it? they’re literally charging you more to support your favorite artists less. jesus christ. get a used ipod and load it up with real albums you bought on bandcamp or something idk. at least that gives the artist real money.


  1. by $1–2 and only in certain regions but still


YellowAfterlife
@YellowAfterlife

Lyrics now require a paid subscription, even though these come from MusixMatch anyway.

Shareholder season, amirite?


smokeandhoney
@smokeandhoney

Instead of spending $12/month for Spotify Premium, spend $5/month for PlexAmp. Then you can stream your music collection from a computer in your house to your phone with a really, really nice mobile app.

(I tried setting up an Airsonic server first, but the interface is trash and the mobile apps that use airsonic/subsonic are all janky. It's worth $5/month to have a pleasant experience! And if PlexAmp ever starts to suck, the music is all on your computer and you can switch to something else.)

Then go buy your music from artists (Bandcamp Friday is great for this!) or acquire your MP3's some other way (Taylor Swift does not need your money!). Either way, consciously choosing what music goes in your collection feels like a good thing.


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in reply to @MelloMakes's post:

I get Spotify for free through my work, but I've cancelled my account earlier this year. Terrible company and I just buy my music off bandcamp or whatever other service an indie artist will have it on.

I cancelled my Spotify sub for good last year for good and haven't looked back. I buy my music during Bandcamp Fridays or directly from artists if they offer that.
Musicolet is a nice app for listening to downloaded music if anyone is looking for something like that.

in reply to @ewie's post:

I'm currently using vlc on my phone to listen to music from bandcamp but I should get a tangara later this year, an open hardware music player heavily inspired by the ipods