[ad_1]
Spotify, it was fun, but it’s time to queue up that “sad indie” playlist you’ve been dying to hear – I’m leaving for Apple Music.
I have been a Spotify Premium subscriber for over 6 years and have used the service for 10 years. But the new Spotify redesign, which CEO Daniel Ek has called “the biggest change to the platform since 2013,” is an experimental album for me.
The Spotify app’s redesigned home feed isn’t actually as bad as I feared. The TikTok-style vertical scrolling that appears when you tap Music or Podcasts & Shows is a bit of an ordeal for the Coldplay stadium show. There are also tips for Instagram, Netflix and YouTube.
But this bloated mess is only part of the reason I’ve reactivated Apple Music’s three-month free trial.Apart from the feeling that this is something else Instagram moments – When the original purpose of the app becomes an act of helping to monetize the eyeball – the new Spotify admits its business model is broken.
It’s not the only streaming service with this problem. But with Spotify consistently ranking at the bottom of the league table for artist payouts and features like his long-awaited Spotify HiFi being farther away than ever, it’s time to jump into Apple Music’s arms. came.
New MTV moments
Another explanation for my desire to leave the new Spotify, other than objectively bad, is that I’m simply too old.Most Spotify users say he’s under 34 (opens in new tab) – and its youngest fans are more interested in visual musical discovery. pitch black playback (opens in new tab) Listen to the album in complete darkness.
This hit me while reading Spotify CEO Daniel Ek’s interview with Billboard (opens in new tab)when asked to describe video-themed features such as Canvas (an 8-second video loop that appears in the background while a song is playing) and even longer Spotify clips.
“It’s about looking to young consumers for inspiration,” Ek explains. “If you think about it, in the music industry, when we moved from radio to MTV, it was a lot better and it gave completely different artists new ways to communicate,” he added. Blaming the Instagramification of apps just sounds like a 21st century version of The Buggles. (opens in new tab).
But Skinner’s “it’s the kids who are wrong” element of my exit from Spotify isn’t the only one. My main problem with Spotify’s new direction isn’t just video prevalence. After all, I grew up with MTV. It pushes everything else to create a single, attention-grabbing chunk of “content,” such as a podcast or an audiobook. Not to mention blood-sucking schemes like Discovery Mode. This mode allows artists to gain more exposure in exchange for lower royalties.
Simple menus like Find Albums are now buried in a pile of recommendations and sponsored promotions. And that was before reaching Spotify’s relatively poor record when it comes to sound quality and artist payments…
Why choose Apple Music
Apple’s music streaming service will never be a perfect shiny disco ball. Its recommendation engine, while much improved, still misses the Discover Weekly playlist rather than Spotify’s patch.I would love to try it too Spotify’s new AI DJ feature Before I go, it’s not yet rolled out in the UK.
But for those who want a simple music player without the “curated previews” and constant background noise of monetization, Apple Music and Tidal extend their lead at the top of the guide. best music streaming serviceBoth offer CD-quality high-definition lossless audio and support spatial audio, allowing music to be delivered even in Dolby Atmos.
Apart from pure sound quality, Apple Music also has a refreshing simplicity. Don’t try to cram your podcasts into your app, keep the two separate. For the same reason I don’t want to go to a music festival, and for the same reason I don’t want to see Ezra Klein criticizing a professor about the US election after the Pixies. belong to the world.
For comparison, I checked the digital price per stream for the most recent label (test card, i.e. the first two albums). not Prime) €0.00939August 1, 2022
Then there’s the issue of paying artists, which is messy and very complicated. Spotify recent updates Loud & Clear (opens in new tab) Websites that break the economics of music streaming spin in their favor as a matter of course. However, the amount Spotify pays rights holders (which is currently around $40 billion since the launch of the streaming service) doesn’t necessarily reflect the actual amount paid to artists.
These rates depend on many factors, such as where you stream your music, but take a look at the breakdown of some of my favorite artists like Public Service Broadcasting (above), which consistently places Spotify on the lower end of the payment scale. It was difficult to ignore.
This is backed up by artist and label data. digital music news (opens in new tab)said, “Historically, Apple Music has paid far more artists than streaming music rival Spotify,” and found this to remain true last year. This is another problem for Apple Music, despite Spotify’s renewed enthusiasm to help artists set up their digital merchandising tables. Alongside the introduction of new features like Apple Music Classical.
long player
For me, the recent launch of Apple Music Classical, which subscribers can download from March 28th, highlights the difference between Apple and the new Spotify.
I may not have heard Bach in spatial audio, but I appreciate Apple using its financial clout to at least do something interesting in the music streaming space. . Spotify, on the other hand, spent hours on their Stream On event. (opens in new tab) Cries about a video podcast.
This doesn’t mean Apple has found a way to make a simple music app sustainable. Unlike Spotify, Apple Music can be treated as a loss leader on iPhone.
The bigger problem is that no app, including Spotify, has yet found a way to make music streaming truly profitable. Spotify has reported profits only once in its history, mainly because payments to music rights owners have been about 70% of gross income (opens in new tab).
So, naturally, Spotify is looking beyond music for actual money spinners. years ago, Spotify CEO Daniel Ek predicted: (opens in new tab) “More than 20% of all listening on Spotify will be non-musical content,” he said. Thanks to acquisitions like Gimlet (a podcast studio), Anchor (a podcasting platform) and Findaway (an audiobook service), as well as a focus on video, where ad rates are more favorable than audio, this is happening.
The problem for me is that this makes the new Spotify very bloated, confusing and downright annoying. So I jumped on Apple Music. Apps like Houdini (opens in new tab).
It may return to Spotify again someday, but an encore seems increasingly unlikely.
[ad_2]
Source link