spotify [First Post]

[Neil Foxlee]

Do you mean eg Windows Media Player, Real Player etc? Can somebody help Charlie out?

[Philip Ryalls]

Charlie - best to go to the Spotify website and download the Spotify app then re-try the Songlines link which took me to er U2.

Do the above and this link should take you to the delightful "Me and Armini" by Emiliana Torrini http://open.spotify.com/album/4SgkvdGPTSZgjG25zztiwG

PS Oh no even my Emiliana link leads to U2. But she is there on the left hand side. This is one great app.

[Neil Foxlee]

Well Charlie, are you there yet?

[ritchie]

Charlie if you have a problem ... send me a pm .. I'll get you to 'the horses mouth' :) or one of them at least.

mind you with your eclectic taste not everything you are looking for will be on ....yet.

[ritchie]

here's a good link

http://www.sharemyplaylists.com/

is this the end of the cd circle as we know it?

[Rod B.]

Check out the playlist of a selection of tracks from our '10 Songs That Shook The World' article, featured in the March 2009 issue of Songlines, our 10th anniversary edition.

http://open.spotify.com/user/songlinesm ... ARyNsnudQf

Every time I try to use it, a box comes up asking me which application to use - how should I know?

I assume you're using Firefox, if the box you're talking about is headed:

Launch Application
This link needs to be opened with an application
Sent to:

Then underneath that it should just say Spotify, and all you do is left mouse click on it so it changes from black text on white, to white text on blue background.

Then tick 'remember for my spotify links' and click OK.

About the Songlines playlist - I'm only getting five of the ten tracks. But perhaps that has something to do with different tracks being licensed in different countries.

Talking of which, the new Ojos de Brujo CD Aocana, released here only on Tuesday, is already up on Spotify. May not be up yet on UK Spotify - I'd be interested to know if it is.

For me this Spotify is as revolutionary as anything I can remember as a music listener. It means not having to buy a CD simply to listen it to properly - as long as they're on Spotify, I'll only be buying CDs or tracks I already know I really want to keep. It almost gives fans the same access to new music previously only enjoyed by reviewers and DJs. Almost too good to be true.

[ritchie]

Rod, as yet "Aocana" is n't 'on' here in the UK.

[Rod B.]

Rod, as yet "Aocana" is n't 'on' here in the UK.

Thanks, Ritchie! So no point in me trying to share playlists of Spanish music with people back in the UK then (unless the tracks involved have been released in the UK anyway).

According to Amazon UK, Aocana is released on 13 April so it could be on UK spotify then or soon after. They're on Warner this time, and Warner seems to be quite good at not staggering release dates too much.

First impressions, overall a good, solid album, less frantic than previous ones, and quite a lot of diversity. There's a clear new Cuban direction and I think the songs that reflect that most are the most impressive - favourite at the moment, one called 'Busca lo nuevo' which is a collaboration with Los Van Van. A couple of other tracks do meander a bit though.

[pirkko]

A critical opinion:

http://www.musicomh.com/music/features/spotify_0309.htm:
Comment: Spotify - Goodbye Music Business, Hello Starving Artist

[MurkeyChris]

Well, I had just started a ‘Spotify has changed my life’ style message when the bloody thing threw a paddy and completely crashed my computer! Oh, so that’s why CDs aren’t obsolete!

Anyway, teething problems aside, it really is an incredible resource, particularly for on a forum like this. I think in a few years the idea that we used to spend time on message boards banging on about songs without being able to just load them up and have a listen might seem as odd as the idea of only being able to watch a programme on TV at the time the broadcasters deem to show it. Amazing as it is to be able to listen to whole albums, one of the things I’m most enjoying is being able to hear to the obscure b-sides, remixes and exclusive compilation tracks that I never would have otherwise come across. Type in Peter Gabriel for example, and you don’t actually get any of his albums, but you do get to check out his extensive soundtrack work, a duet with Angelique Kidjo, the ‘Big Time’ Cassani mix from House Vibes – Deep Electro, Vol. 2, and, ahem, a kareoke backing track for ‘Solsbury Hill’. Another joy is the accidental find – I was searching for indie band the Maccabees and got not only their album but also ‘Macabees II, Chapter V (from the Last Book of the Apocrapha)’, a selection from Alec Guinness reads Spiritual and Religious Poetry and Prose.

It’s also a delight for the music geek in me. Earlier today I listened to six different version of the traditional ‘Shallow Brown’, ranging from the most common shanty arrangement through to the folk-pop of John Wesley Harding’s version and a spine tingling guitar instrumental by Martin Simpson. I was less successful in my exploration of ‘Strange Fruit’ interpretations – the Billie Holiday remix for This is Buddha Loungeis only outdone in it’s inappropriateness by UB40's reggae take. Siouxie Sioux and the Banshee’s dramatic, funereal version has a certain something but has nothing compared to the raw emotion of Nina Simone’s and Holiday's original.

My next experiment is with the radio. If I select all eras and all genres (wot no world or folk?!), will that really give me a completely random selection of tracks from the whole catalogue? I suspect that popularity must factor into there as well. The first track it’s given me is an attractive piece of chilled house from 2000 by a Finnish producer called Luomo, next up I’m threatened with Jennifer Lopez, but I guess you take the rough with the smooth.

I notice the Guardian has already jumped in and is producing themed playlists. Has anyone started doing their own playlists yet? Any chance we can get them posted up here?

Chris

P.S. The JLo one turns up to be 'Get Right', one of her better singles, so that's okay. Next up, '409' by the Beach Boys.

[ritchie]

another critical opinion;- sorry if it's a bit heavy

"SoundScan

Focus on awareness, not sales.

Forget the Pirate Bay trial, forget P2P piracy and cease and desist letters. They are now the sideshow. We’re moving from ownership to streaming. Spotify is king here, but it’s not the only one. There’s MySpace, there’s iMeem and the pay granddaddies, Rhapsody and Napster. Streaming is better than ownership. All of the foregoing are licensed by the major labels and numerous other rights holders. Can these outlets generate enough capital for the rights holders to garner the revenues of yore? Doubtful. iMeem is on the ropes right now. But that’s irrelevant. Bottom line, people are becoming accustomed to being able to access everything whenever they want. The old model of buying individual items will not evaporate overnight, but it will start to fade, just like the CD, which was the last physical vestige of this paradigm.

But, philosophy aside, sales just suck. In eight weeks, Bruce Springsteen has sold 483,803 albums. An absolutely horrible figure. Bruce is fine, he’s got a guaranteed contract. The man who made this deal, Andy Lack? He was neutered and then left the company. Sony is holding the bag, it’s Sony’s problem that they’re upside down on Bruce’s new album. Nothing seems to make a difference, the Super Bowl, all that press, people just don’t want Bruce.

But he can sell a bunch of tickets.

U2 is doing better than Bruce. They’ve got a cume of 693,310. But this last week, their third on the chart, showed another 42% drop, they sold 76,317 albums. Not exactly chicken feed, but there’s no way they get to ten million, there’s no way the label takes everybody out to CUT and orders thousand dollar bottles of wine on this revenue.

Kelly Clarkson is still number one, but she only sold 90,393 albums, after selling 254,671 last week. Her sales are declining. Everybody’s sales are declining. To look to music sales to make your income is to be absolutely horrified. They’re going in the wrong direction.

We can delineate why, but you know, it’s not a secret. You can get the stuff free and you’re not beholden to just a few acts. No one can dominate. It’s every man for himself. Green Day is debuting their new video on MTV. Do labels still make videos? Does MTV still play them? Isn’t that like saying they still make Beanie Babies, or Hula-Hoops? Videos are a passe fad, late twenty first century relics, now it’s about the music once again. And the trappings are not enough to sell the music. Otherwise, Scarlett Johansson’s album wouldn’t have stiffed. Running a record label is bad business, which is why companies want 360 deals. But the label is no longer the dominant player, the focus is now on the act itself. How does the act itself break through?

I’m not saying the act, the musicians themselves, have to do all the work, but they’re no longer slaves on the plantation, they’ve got to take their destinies into their own hands. Rather than look for a fat cat to dump a bunch of money on them, they’ve got to start from the ground up, by themselves, no one’s got that kind of money anymore, you’ve got to start with AWARENESS!

Don’t see it as free music. That’s referencing the old game, where music sales were the main source of revenue. That hasn’t been true in years. Most acts make the lion’s share of their money on the road. How are you going to get people to come to see you?

Sure, radio still has some power, and television too, but they’re waning in influence. You reach fewer and fewer people, many of whom don’t care. And if you’re trying to get them to buy your record to check you out, you obviously don’t surf the Net, because everything is available free, to hear online!

Think about this. You used to have to purchase the record to know what you were getting. Now you can test drive everything first. But why bother to buy after test driving? If the dealer lets you keep the car every day, why bother to own it? That’s what streaming is. Granted, now you can only stream efficiently on the lot, in front of your computer, but that’s going to change, as 3G wireless penetration expands, as 4G makes its debut. You’ll be able to stream your music anywhere. And then the game will change. It’s how are you going to get someone to LISTEN to your music?

After a label sold a CD, it didn’t care if the buyer played it. The label didn’t care if the buyer threw the damn thing away. But in the future, it’s going to matter exactly how many times someone plays your tracks. THAT’S how you’re going to get paid! It’s not about a good come-on, it’s about ultimate delivery!

How can you get someone to spin your tracks so much, so many of them, that they’ll bond with you and not only want to come see you perform, but buy your merch. Online streaming payment is now low, if it grows dramatically, it will be slowly. Piracy will not be the problem, but overall revenues will. So see the game not as getting someone to pony up the bucks for your tracks, but to listen to them!

In this transition period, let everybody stream all of your music, whether it be from a third party site or your own. It’s your only hope of breaking through the clutter. Sure, you can sell your music too. Some people still want to own it, others want a souvenir. But don’t get hung up on recorded music as revenue stream. True revenue comes way down the line, when you’ve established a body of work and a fan base.

Are you getting this? It doesn’t pay to be a one hit wonder. All that money the label spends? It reaches so very few people, only a fraction of whom want to own, and a tiny slice of whom want to see the act live, usually once.

You lamented the decline of artist development at the label? Don’t worry, artist development has come back! It doesn’t pay to jam.

Don’t worry about driving your SoundScan numbers, worry about getting people to listen. It’s not about money, but time. How can you convince someone to burn three or four minutes of their time checking you out. That’s why you’ve got to be really good, because with so many options, both musical and other entertainment varieties, people make decisions very quickly. Good isn’t good enough. Your track has to be GREAT! Otherwise, people will click over to something else, their time is too valuable. Don’t ask for patience, deliver something so appealing that people will be drawn to it, and will tell everybody they know all about it.

And people are looking for great things. And one person can start a conflagration. One unpaid fan will tell everybody how great you are, if you truly are that amazing. They won’t want compensation, they won’t sign up for a street team, they’ll do it because their lives have been enriched.

That’s the game. How can you make the life of the listener better. Not how can you extract dollars from his wallet.

The major labels have been preaching their model, speaking of their woes to an ignorant mainstream media for a decade. All the while, the game was changing, off the radar. The tipping point has been reached. The major labels have lost so much of their power, they’re never going to regain it. It’s about a bond directly between the artist and fan. The fan pays you, not the label, not the bribe-able gatekeeper. Be nice to the fan. Make it easy for him to check you out. Deliver something that will get him through the night. And the day after."

The above is taken from the blog of Bob Lefsetz (for it was NormanD who pointed me in his direction)


He often makes some interesting points. OK perhaps I have a vested interest in Spotify and want it to succeed ... but it is good and free and legal (not that I give a chuff about that)

I bet Jacqui Smith - the Home Secretary has the 'premium' package ... I don't .. damn I wish I had 'stuck in' at school.

[judith]

Hey Ritchie, any good ukelele tunes on Spotify? And just how are the Ukelele Allstars now a days? (I don't think they are yet letting us have Spotify over here yet.)

[ritchie]

Hi judith, apparently there are a lot of good 'uke' tunes on ... but I have n't searched for any yet ;-)

The Allstars are going ok but I took a brief sojurn ... there was a split and well to put it bluntly 'fings aint wot they used to be"

not too worry ... I'm still "plinky plonking"

As soon as I find out when our 'colonial cousins' are able to 'get it' I'm sure I;ll be able to wangle you an invite .... mind you ... you could move I suppose ;-)

Well off to see Dent May strut his stuff .. catch you later.

[Charlie]

Well Charlie, are you there yet?

I am registered and seemed to answer the same questions countless times before eventually finding a place where I could enter artist names.

It worked OK for Salif Keita and C W Stoneking but got stuck on Touch and Go as an artist name, wanting to give me all the tracks on Magazine's career-retrospective anthology titled Touch and Go but not finding anything by the group of that name.

It all feels very cumbersome and I have no sense of discovering anything wonderful as a way of listening. But then I also find iTunes a horrible-looking mess.

[Neil Foxlee]

The artists Touch and Go aren't on there (yet), but if you want to check artists, run a search and then click on the 'Artists' heading, which will give you an alphabetical list you can scroll down.