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--- spotify [2026/09/15 11:41] – ultracomfy
+++ spotify [2026/09/15 11:57] (current) – ultracomfy
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 ====== 2. Consolidation of power structures ======
-Another thing about Spotify is that people like its algorithm. We get music recommendations from Spotify, which has a pretty big influence over what kind of music people listen to. Now, I'm an outstanding observer, and I see how much people rely on the algorithm, a program designed and deployed by Spotify, has a lot of power over what people listen to. It makes me think... Isn't it convenient how Spotify is structured in a way to benefit big artists and, with its algorithm, also gets executive control over who the biggest artists are in the first place? Like, it just so happens that Spotify went out of its way to create a monetization "system" that works like an oligarchy and with its recommendation system also has a major, if not overwhelmingly large, say in who becomes an oligarch? And here is a little, dark secret that you may not even want to know - if they control who most people listen to... they also control who will //not// be listened to. So, uh, any bets on who we think is **not** going to get recommended a lot by the algorithm? Because, I think I have the hunch that Spotify will like to use its algorithm to reinforce the rigid and hostile monetization structure.
+Another thing about Spotify is that people like its algorithm. We get music recommendations from Spotify, which has a pretty big influence over what kind of music people listen to. Now, I'm an outstanding observer, and I see how much people rely on the algorithm, a program designed and deployed by Spotify, giving them a lot of power over what people listen to. It makes me think... Isn't it convenient how Spotify is structured in a way to benefit big artists and, with its algorithm, also gets executive control over who the biggest artists are in the first place? Like, it just so happens that Spotify went out of its way to create a monetization "system" that works like an oligarchy and with its recommendation system also has a major, if not overwhelmingly large, say in who becomes an oligarch? And here is a little, dark secret that you may not even want to know - if they control who most people listen to... they also control who will //not// be listened to. So, uh, any bets on who we think is **not** going to get recommended a lot by the algorithm? Because, I think I have the hunch that Spotify will like to use its algorithm to reinforce the rigid and hostile monetization structure.
 Because, ultimately, this isn't so much about the exact names of the oligarchs at the top as it is about keeping the total number of oligarchs low. The goal is closing the door behind yourself so that the top keep earning a lot more than anyone else.
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 ====== 3. Loss of ownership, loss of control and prisoners in walled gardens ======
-<wrap lo>Satirical, made up strawman person:</wrap> "But, you know, who cares about local artists, right? Those are all pussies, anyway. If you don't make enough you're not working hard enough. They should improve their music and cut down on unnecessary expenses. Less Netflix, it's a distraction, anyway. **I** make enough money to pay for a monthly Spotify membership and I get all the service I want. I get the music I care about, I can listen to it at 256kbit/s as opposed to the peasantly 128kbit/s (and can definitely hear the difference), the music I listen to is only from people who actually made it as individuals, so I don't have to listen to the riffraff."
+As much as Spotify is designed to not compensate small artists, it is also problematic on a societal level. Spotify puts a price tag on not just listening to music that month, but on listening to music at all, for as long as they can keep you tied to their platform. The problem here is that having 12.99€ in a month for music is a //privilege//, not the norm.
-The problem in reality is, unfortunately, that you and I are riffraff ourselves. The same structural mechanics keeping people from earning livable wages on Spotify is (just about) why you and I are barely making any money in our own lives. If you can buy a Spotify membership you may not be a Taylor Swift, but you definitely enjoy a good amount of [[privilege]]. That's good for you, but in this case the privilege is **required**. For many of us this problem is real. Very real. Some of us have to accept massive cuts in their quality of life if they want to do something as basic as listening to music through Spotify. And this may sound acceptable if you consider that Spotify is a service offered to you, but people have their entire music library on there. If you stop paying for Spotify for //whatever// reason, then that's it for you (Covid happens? Trump tariffs happen? Inflation? Price hike? Job loss? Healthcare/Surgery costs? Had to fix your washing machine? Just "didn't get as lucky and were born into a poor household"? Make your pick!). Even the music you downloaded, it's gone, you're //fucked//. You do not own anything on Spotify. When you submit yourself to Spotify, you accept that Spotify is in control of your access to music. If they don't like your face, or if you stop paying the membership fee for any of the three quadrillion possible reasons, you get kicked out.
+In the same way that small artists get fucked on Spotify, we get fucked when we put ourselves under the employement of another company. Admittedly, if you can buy a Spotify membership you may not be a Taylor Swift, but you definitely enjoy a good amount of [[privilege]]. That's good for you, but in this case the privilege is **required**. For many of us this problem is real. Very real. Some of us have to accept massive cuts in their quality of life if they want to do something as basic as listening to music through Spotify. And this may sound acceptable if you consider that Spotify is a service offered to you, but people have their entire music library on there. If you stop paying for Spotify for //whatever// reason, then that's it for you (Covid happens? Trump tariffs happen? Inflation? Price hike? Job loss? Healthcare/Surgery costs? Had to fix your washing machine? Just "didn't get as lucky and were born into a poor household"? Make your pick!). Even the music you downloaded is gone. You do not own anything on Spotify. When you submit yourself to Spotify, you accept that Spotify is in control of your access to music. If they don't like your face, or if you stop paying the membership fee for any of the three quadrillion possible reasons, you get kicked out.
-When you're kicked out, you're done. Spotify is a deliberately designed walled garden with no way of migrating to another platform easily. You do anything on Spotify that you care about - for example finding new music or creating playlists - then now that's it. You have to keep paying Spotify until the end of your life, 13€ per month. If you live another 60 years then you'll be paying 9360€ just to keep being allowed to listen to your music. Does any normal person ever get close to spending anywhere that much on music? My friend, you could buy a car from that and listen to music on any other platform instead. Subscription prices rack up fast. And if you fail to pay, at any time, for any reason, you're excluded from the party.
+Spotify is a deliberately designed walled garden with no way of migrating to another platform easily. You do anything on Spotify that you care about - for example finding new music or creating playlists - then now that's it. You have to keep paying Spotify until the end of your life, 13€ per month. If you live another 60 years then you'll be paying 9360€ just to keep being allowed to listen to your music. Does any normal person ever get close to spending anywhere that much on music? My friend, you could buy a car from that and listen to music on any other platform instead. Subscription prices rack up fast. And if you fail to pay, at any time, for any reason, you're excluded from the party.
 And also, you will listen to music the way //Spotify// wants you to. So you will be using //their// audio player, regardless of whether you like it, you will //not// be getting access to the actual audio files to use them in personal/private projects, Spotify controls for you which music they allow or disallow on their platform, and if you want to do //anything// with their music you will use only the tools Spotify gives you to do it. If their tools don't allow you to do what you want to do, then you're just another subscription-paying customer. Spotify killed its external API's and 3rd party playback support. Everything is kept proprietary so that only Spotify has control over how their product is used((Which, to be clear, isn't inherently wrong, but makes the product inherently shitty.)). If Spotify changes their tune in the future and becomes more predatory to the consumers, either through monetization practices or restriction of functionality, then you can be outraged for a bit, but then you will go back to paying the membership again, because that's what you'll do anyway.
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 ====== 4. Piracy ======
-To executives, piracy is a variable to consider in business, not a matter of ethics where we are trying to "do the right thing" or "care about the artists" (right, about that...). Remember, these are the same kind of people that would prefer people dying and paying for the resulting lawsuits, rather than paying for proper staffing, maintenance and safety checks. You know, unlike executives, people are conceptually actually willing to do the right thing (especially when you make it as convenient as Spotify does). People be willing to pay if companies get the pricing right. That's why Spotify is working, at least a little bit, to reduce piracy.
+To executives, piracy is a variable to consider in business, not a matter of ethics where we are trying to "do the right thing" or "care about the artists" (right, as if they haven't designed a monetization model that goes out of its way to fuck them over). Remember, these are the same kind of people that would prefer people dying and paying for the resulting lawsuits, rather than paying for proper staffing, maintenance and safety checks. You know, unlike executives, people are conceptually actually willing to do the right thing (especially when you make it as convenient as Spotify does). People are willing to pay if companies get the pricing right. That's why Spotify is working, at least a little bit, to reduce piracy.
-Ultimately though, Spotify is another in a long list of companies trying profit at your expense, with the objective "Reduce piracy" being a literal stand-in for "maximize profit margins", **not** whatever **you** think is good about reducing piracy.
+Ultimately though, Spotify is another in a long list of companies trying profit at your expense, with the objective "Reduce piracy" being a literal stand-in for "maximize profit margins". Whatever good **you** think lessening piracy will do is **not** what Spotify is aiming for. You might think less piracy means artists get paid, but that is //not// the case with Spotify, //even// when it demonstrably //does// reduce piracy.
 //If you want, continue reading on [[Spotify (Level 2)]]//