Socially distanced project: My Spotify Tin Whistle Playlist

[Tunborough]

I did open a Spotify account a few years ago, however, as I read more about it and how little the musicians actually make from there I decided not to support that platform and not to use it. Oh well, to each their own.

There is merit to your position. On the other hand, I'm using Spotify to listen to performers from around the world who I would otherwise have little access to, such as this, and this. They don't do concerts over here, and their albums are tough to come by. Not many pat waing drummers around here, either. At least these performers might receive some of my money for my dedicated listening.

Goes to show what a dinosaur I am, I have no idea what Spotify is.

Think Netflix for record albums instead of movies.

[ytliek]

I have always preferred buying hard copy CDs and preferably directly from the musicians as much as possible to provide a livelihood. Musicians tell me all of the time they earn more from direct purchases of their CDs and touring. I may be a loner on this but I believe in paying the musician/artist for their creativity with no free lunch. I do use iTunes, YouTube and recently opened Bandcamp account and I mentioned earlier that I did have a Spotify account years ago. I realize my approach to music is very limiting considering the size of the music industry. I listen to just about any genre of music but with a primary focus on folk, traditional music, and have more than a lifetimes worth of music in the home inventory. Honestly, I don't think I could ever possibly listen to all the CDs I already have. I had quite the process just obtaining most, not all, of the CDs listed on the Whistle Recordings thread here on forum to learn to play whistle. That listening and learning curve is still in progress.

When iTunes, CDBaby, Spotify, Shazam, Amazon, Google, etc., etc., began distributing music I had no intention of opening varying accounts with safeguarded (changing) passwords and all of that updating. What the musicians make difficult for the followers is distributing music on various platforms in order to reach the majority of possible listeners and earn a livelihood. So there's a dynamic between the musician, music, and audience that stays in flux as technology progresses as in platforms changing, devices developing, and distribution channels emerging. As I age already retired I don't want to have to keep up with the complexity of the emerging network culture. I want to simplify my life while trying to avoid smart technology as much as possible... and admittedly the smartphone is already smarter than I.

Present day situation with the coronavirus pandemic may challenge and change how musicians/artists (everyone) earns their livelihood. I hope everyone is well. Stay safe. Wash hands. Wear mask.

p.s. I am not currently, nor ever was a professional musician. I am the ultimate listener.

[squidgirl]

I do buy as many hardcopy CDs of music as I can afford, particularly from small independent label musicians, as I have a number of musician friends and understand that dynamic. Actually though, these days, touring is most musicians' biggest revenue stream, and I love live music. But Spotify is very convenient for sharing things like my above playlists as I did here, and it's available on all my devices and wherever I visit other computers.

I am a long-term Apple user and have a complete ecosystem (iPhone, iPad, MacBook, all hand-me-down gifts as I'm poor and on disability) and tried Apple Music as a possible replacement for Spotify, but didn't like how it removed music from my HD to put it in the cloud--I like having it both places and AppleCare tech support and I couldn't figure out how to do that, so I canceled the service.

But now we've discovered that my roommates and I can sign up for a family Spotify membership, so that's in thee works. We'll probably sign up for a family YouTube account too.

There are now very safe and well-reviewed automated password protection apps like OnePassword that automatically generate and remember secure passwords (and Apple ecosystem devices can automatically generate and keep track of them too), if anyone has difficulty remembering all their passwords. I'm a geek and have some mental algorithms for generating passwords which make them easy for me to remember for each site and/or app.

[ytliek]

Actually though, these days, touring is most musicians' biggest revenue stream, and I love live music. But Spotify is very convenient for sharing things like my above playlists as I did here, and it's available on all my devices and wherever I visit other computers.

I do realize that any of the music distribution channels can provide a lot of music and by convenient means on multiple devices. I simply just chose not to use Spotify or others. I agree the most money musicians make is from the touring which I attend frequently and buy the CDs there when possible. Touring has its expenses too though.

[Tunborough]

Touring is effectively illegal here at the moment. When I ordered a CD from a local indie label, I heard back that their office was closed for the duration, and they wouldn't be shipping CDs until the restrictions were lifted. Meanwhile, we'll make do with the MP3 download that came with the CD order, and go back to browsing Spotify.

[ytliek]

Here in the body text is the money amounts for streaming music. I'm just saying how little it is and question whether a musician can live on these amounts.

https://www.rte.ie/news/coronavirus/202 ... 0n_5aYkOa4

[Tunborough]

Here in the body text is the money amounts for streaming music. I'm just saying how little it is and question whether a musician can live on these amounts.

https://www.rte.ie/news/coronavirus/202 ... 0n_5aYkOa4

[Colm Mac an Iomaire] explained that 1,000 streams on Apple music would pay around €7, but the same amount on spotify would be around €3.50, but on YouTube it is around 58 cents.

Even if YouTube were to pay the same amount as Spotify, he said, it would be a huge improvement.

If this is true, over half the money I send to Spotify every month is going to the artists. That's better than I thought. The comparison to YouTube is revealing.

[Mangopit]

YouTube is rife with music piracy, as anyone can post anything they’ve ripped off a CD, and Google takes no responsibility for copyright violations. Even as they and the user make money off advertising.

Use of Spotify only harms artists to the degree that you use it instead of CDs. If you use it to discover artists, and then make an effort to buy their CDs, that can be an ethical use of the technology. It is also helpful as a way to “test drive” a CD that you think you might want and see if it is something you might want to buy. I also find it a convenient way of listening to CDs I already own, knowing I already paid the artist for the music, and they are now making a few extra pennies for me to listen to it electronically.

Other than those uses, however, the streaming services make a musician’s life more difficult, especially when there is perceived pressure to put an album on Spotify or risk being forgotten or abandoned by fans.