Spotify is essentially an internet based software that enables the user free, and most importantly 100% legal access to over 2 million music tracks; the figure is rising daily. Although there has been similar software in the past, such as Pirate Bay, the illegal nature has meant that obtaining music is a relatively difficult process that puts many off. Spotify owns the rights to any song and so users can simply download the software, and provided they have a stable internet connection, browse or search for music and instantly listen to the whole track. This simplifies the whole process and means music can be browsed through and selected as easy as pie. What a wonderful thing.
All of this comes for free, with the condition that every half an hour or so you get 20 seconds of advertising, but it is subtle, and easily livable with if you consider what you're getting in return... There are other options of becoming a member for around £10 and having no adverts, or renting it out for a day, for the use of parties etc.
Spotify is a place that music novices, experts and dabblers can all enjoy; everyone can find something that excites them. A feature called 'Radio' allows you to select which decades and genre of music you would like to listen to, then compiles a list of music that matches your criteria, similar to Itune's 'Genius' feature. But in contrast to Itunes, all the tracks are full and free. Not tantalising 30 second snippets that lure you to pay the price of 79p, not quite a big enough price to seem significant, but not quite small enough to seem irrelevant, only to find that you don't like the track. This free access to a whole cacophony of music must be positive for the musical diversity in the UK. The sheer potential to be exposed to this eclectic mix will improve both the musical tolerance and musical knowledge of the public, I think that is a good thing.
Another positive is the fact that it completely rids the possibility of a simple hardware problem destroying a music collection taken years to collect. It's happened to me, it may have happened to you. CDs that you spent hundreds of pounds on ripped off and stored on Itunes, the CDs disregarded and lost, suddenly, a click, a whir, a blue screen, and all your songs are erased. It's enough to make a grown man cry. But with Spotify, this will never occur. It's a streaming service, the music is permanently stored outside of your hardware, nothing exists within your hardware so nothing can be lost. Your music collection is guaranteed.
However, a potential stumbling block in Spotify's dominance of computers around the world is the Ipod. Itunes is the only software that can sync music to an Ipod, and with these rights set in stone, Spotify's use might always be undermined by the fact that it's a streaming service, you can't listen to music on the move.
But this is where it gets clever and the concept of Spotify is more exciting than the program itself. With the astronomic growth in internet on the move, comes a very interesting possibility. The increased use and quality of mobile internet means that Spotify potentially has the ability to render the Ipod redundant. A phone user would simply use Spotify on their phone in the same way that they used it at home. With the ability to create and save playlists, their previously listened music would not be lost between uses, and the listener could simply search for any song, no matter how old or new, and listen to it instantaneously. Subsequently, the role of the relatively technologically flaccid Ipod, becomes irrelevant. But this is speculation. Spotify has the potential and theory to outwit the might of Apple, but if this does indeed happen or not is yet to be seen.
Spotify also does not come without major implications for the music industry. The concept of music through internet streaming is as revolutionary as the rise of CDs was, and could be as crippling too. Before CDs, vinyls ruled supreme. They were cumbersome, volatile but ultimately a joy. The idea of buying a vinyl was more than the music, it was the artwork, the opening, the first play. Obviously, there still is a vinyl scene but it's ever receding into the darkness, now almost exclusively used for mixing. But CDs instigated the rip and burn culture that we have had for the last 15 years. Combined with the similarly astronomical growth of home computers and the technological competency of the younger generations, the music business has suffered at the hands of the MP3 greatly. There's little need to buy music. With CDs, you could borrow the disc from a friend (a loyal music buying friend of course), rip the songs onto Itunes and return it within ten minutes. Et voila, a whole album of music for free.
Spotify obviously is another step all together. It means that you don't even have to borrow the CD in the first place, it's there for anyone to listen to. But, you say, surely you can't actually obtain the track, you can only listen to it, that's what makes it legal? Anyone with half a brain can search google and find multiple methods of downloading tracks from Spotify. There is software developed specifically for downloading tracks direct from Spotify, anything that plays on your computer can be downloaded. The argument for Spotify destroying the idea of piracy seems a stagnant one at best. Spotify in many ways makes piracy easier as all the music is stored in one, easy-access place. At least with Pirate Bay, people had to work to find the music they wanted.
Simultaneously, it undermines ownership. Everything from CD makers to Ipod manufacturers to record shops will suffer if Spotify's popularity becomes household because material goods won't be needed. That has to be a big worry. The rise in the abstract 'ownership' of music through the internet means that paying for music is dead. Music will become an industry fueled by advertising and a whole side of music, ie the artwork etc, will be irrelevant. The spirit and culture of music could be threatened.
So is Spotify a good thing? The current state of Spotify is marvelous for us public. Subtly important, but not dominating. We can search, discover and listen to new songs for no fee at all. It will widen our musical experience and possibly spread the intensity of listeners from big bands to smaller bands who need support. But the implications of the concept are dark, exciting and possibly destructive. The undermining of ownership and the corporative nature that music would take, means that the essence of music would be in danger. Surely that's something that shouldn't be risked.
No comments:
Post a Comment