Music for the Masses

[andrewducker]

So, I've been playing with Spotify (bypass the "invitation only" bit by going here) and am so far very impressed.  It's a music streaming service that does it _right_.  Not only does it search for music faster than most local music apps do, but it's managing to play songs without gaps between tracks.

It's still not quite there - it's missing a few big name holdouts (Beatles, Pink Floyd) and a fair chunk of small label music (It's got Covenant, but not Apoptygma Berzerk), but I hope it'll keep adding more music.

It's add-supported, which will put some people off (or £9.99 to play without adverts) - I haven't heard/seen any ads yet, probably because they're trying to suck me in first...

If they keep this up then the only reason to actually have a music collection will be to put music onto my MP3 player.

Comments

[bracknellexile.livejournal.com]

I've been highly sceptical of these sorts of services for a long time, mainly because they never usually deliver content beyond the main labels and there's very little there I'd like to listen to (that and I object to the principles of the 4 big labels and the RIAA etc these days).

A decent legal digital music service that could actually give me the content I want (i.e. the more obscure metal and prog) and doesn't cost the earth or is riddled with DRM seemed to be a bit of a dream but this ain't too bad. It's not failed too many of my obscure band searches yet although they've only got one Madder Mortem album and no Closterkeller - but then Polish goth metal might be pushing my luck a tad :) Even so, if they're expanding their collections this might actually be the start of decent online music! Ta for the links.

There are times when I'd still rather download off eDonkey / torrents, etc and send the band money instead, meaning the people that matter get paid rather than labels / execs / stores. Artists have been ripped off far too long and even with something like this, chances are the artists are seeing very little of what Spotify pays the labels unless the artists put their music up independently.

Still, it's a good start....

[bracknellexile.livejournal.com]

OK, let me revise that - it's missing a LOT of the non-mainstream metal/goth/prog. Still, we'll give it time and see how it evolves....