Love me like you do- Ellie Goulding, not available in Hong Kong

[gawing]

Hi, I recently noticed that a song Love me like you do - Ellie Goulding (from the movie Fifty Shades of Grey) can only get covers/tributes as a result. And when I followed a spotify link from the internet i get the following message: "This track is currently not available in Hong Kong..."

Can it possibly be something as stupid as a regional rights issue? Please enlighten me in this, here i was under the impression that the internet was global.

[MattSuda · Accepted solution]

It is likely that the record label in charge of the song has not released it to Hong Kong.

The availability of songs on Spotify is up to the artist and their music label.

Spotify has no control over what content is available.

Sometimes it is only available in certain countries, while access is blocked to others.

You can find out more information here

[Maddie1357]

It's not available in the UK though? surely she would have released it here seeing as she's british

[MattSuda]

@Maddie1357 

Right now it's only available in the USA, Canada, and Mexico.

It's usually up to the record label. This song is part of a soundtrack for a movie. So the record label gets the say in the case, not the artist. 

According to Wikipedia, you'll be able to hear the song in the UK on Februrary 15th:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Love_Me_Like_You_Do

[Carbiii]

Bit stupid that they sent an email saying it was available....you'd think if that email came you could get it in your country 😕

[alexduffy]

Unfortunately, in terms of the UK, nationality doesn't factor much into things anymore. For instance, we got Bang Bang by Jessie J later than everywhere else in the world, despite Jessie J being a British artist and having a notable British fanbase. She clearly wanted to crack America with Bang Bang, however it doesn't excuse us getting it late. That sort of thing is a notable fault with the UK music industry - of course, it's not Spotify's issue, but Spotify have actually been really good in getting streaming rights to some songs before official releases (e.g. Meghan Trainor's singles).

[Carbiii]

yea i get that....whats annoyed me is, as a UK spotify user, they emailed me to say it was available...but it wasnt. wouldnt you think theyd just send the email to users who it was available to. 😞 lol

[alexduffy]

Oh yeah, I'm assuming that's because Spotify puts the song up but doesn't actually make it available, but sometimes they'll make it available for a short time. That bothers me too sometimes because I'll be excited to listen to a song then it'll be taken down. Really wish it would just be made unavailable straight away.

[lockersafc]

Why am i able to play this song on my iPhone in the UK but not on my Desktop PC?? 

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