Pirates have a better Spotify experience than paying customers.

[Schneck]

Gabe Newell, the president of the video game company Valve, once said: "We think there is a fundamental misconception about piracy. Piracy is almost always a service problem and not a pricing problem"

And you know what? He was right. I've been happy to pay for the Spotify service, musicians and creators for years, but we've reached a point where a user of a cracked Spotify-App has a better user experience than the paying customers.

Why am I, as opposed to a user of a cracked app, forced to listen to minutes of pre-roll, mid-roll and post-roll ads in a 30-minute podcast episode?

Also, unlike the user of a cracked app, why am I being shown ads over the entire smartphone screen even though I am a paying customer?

Where do you think this is going?

[Mitre226644]

Walk on over to the boat then

[Schneck]

I mean, that's not my point. But yes, it feels like Spotify is trying to slowly nudge us off the island with a stick.

[Mitre226644]

Yo,

If you’re exclusively talking about podcasts, which it sounds like you are, my opinion is that there is a lack of understanding about different content Spotify provides. This isn’t the user’s fault, and I can empathize with anyone who feels as though they are paying for a service that is ripping them off. 

Basically, in my opinion, the discontent with ads specifically, comes as a result of the proliferation of podcasts, and the opaque nature of the customer agreement  between Spotify and its customers concerning podcasts and content in general.

Spotify made an accurate assessment when they invested heavily into Podcasts in 2018- They’ve exploded in popularity, and Spotify has the infrastructure to be the best option for users. 

Now they need to be able to pay for all of this amazing content their users have become accustomed to, and haven’t been forthright. Or maybe loud enough. 

The problem is communication and expectations. Users don’t feel like they should pay for ads because that’s essentially what they bought, and they don’t have an option not to, either, with podcasts at least.

It’s absolutely insane from an economic standpoint that users would expect to get all the content in the world for $10/month ad-free, but they don’t know any different. 

Trust has been broken, and it needs to be remedied. 

”The single biggest problem in communication  is the illusion that it has taken place” - George Bernard Shaw

[Schneck]

I don't care if there was or is poor communication. All I'm saying is that pirates currently enjoy a better service than paying customers. That's all.

"Basically, in my opinion, the discontent with ads specifically, comes as a result of the proliferation of podcasts, and the opaque nature of the customer agreement  between Spotify and its customers concerning podcasts and content in general."

Here it's over 12 dollars. But that doesn't matter either.

You have to remember that you don't own the music at all. All you're buying is the right to listen to it. Nothing more. That's the contract. I pay, Spotify provides the music or the podcasts.

The mere fact that streaming services like Spotify have been around for years is proof enough that it works. Apparently it works so well that a racist and homophobic Joe Rogan can get 200,000,000 dollars.

[vaajy]

At least they don't have any Tiktok view on their Android music app.

[Mitre226644]

Dude you are so missing the point. I know what streaming services are, and what they have been. And the concept of a subscription is not lost on me, but thank you for the reminder that I am streaming something, not an owner of it. My word man. And my sincere condolences over the 2 extra dollars you have to part with.

What I am desperately trying to communicate is that it’s a different form of content. Music streaming was arranged by working it out with the record companies so their artists could be paid something instead of it just being out of their hands. And they came up with the best solution for artists in my opinion- feel free to have your own.

Podcasts were not around in the beginning of Spotify, and they don’t have the same structure in terms of how creators, whether it be a couple people in a garage or a big production company, get paid. In comes advertising revenue. 

You are correct that streaming services work. Good job catching onto that. But here’s the thing you are really, disappointedly missing: $12 subscriptions don’t include podcast content. You don’t get the benefit of just inheriting a new content medium with your music sub. Kinda like how people don’t hand out books for free after they paid to watch a movie. You’re getting more, yet are astonished it comes with some type of sacrifice. 

Access the part of your head where the thinking can happen. 

[David_Nerevar]

I have decided to try spotify for streaming music, not only listeniing to podcasts and the experience was infuriating! Nothing works, search function doesnt work at all, it pops up results completely unrelated to my search, even if I find the artist myself and find the song in their library, click on the song - 17 ads later it plays something completely different! When driving it randomly loses sound, the timer on the song keeps going but no sound, I have to force close the app and open it up again. Then it randomly starts playing something completely different! It is beyond frustrating while driving! Even this website is so bad, so many errors while trying to post this rant. How can you expect me to pay you my hard earned money when you cant even get the basics working right? Is spotify alive just because Joe Rogan keeps it afloat?

[Mitre226644]

@david,

Sounds like you’re typing and clicking wrong, that your car speakers are on the fritz, not using the community website properly, and have an inflated impression of Joe Rogan’s popularity. Just tidy up those issues and you’ll be cruising!

[David_Nerevar]

Sure, it's a pure coincidence that my car speakers o ly go on a fritz when I'm using Spotify and nothing else, and they somehow start playing random different stuff. Totally not Spotify being trash

[Mitre226644]

Seeing as we're not familiar with sarcasm, I was joking. 

Seems like some issues need to be attended to- you should place this post into a place where a moderator can help you and make sure to clarify anything they wouldn't be able to ascertain from your description. 

If I can help I would be happy to. 

Tom

[Lemonadehero_guy]

Dawg just let them be😭, In other parts of this problem of piracy is the UNAVAILABILITY. You have ads every 30 minutes or even A SONG AFTER, Then limited song chooses, No shuffle, No downloads, no repeats, ITS NOT A FREE APP ANYMORE FOR EVERYONE TO USE. you might not get profit but atleast get people or GIVE the responsibility of being a music app, Not like musi who has these things and STILL gets profit.

(Spotify people, dont take this to heart.)

[BurntSandwich]

You're saying Spotify Premium ISN'T Ad-free?! That's like their whole point.