Folks if ya haven't heard about Spotify, you may want to keep your ears tuned in. Spotify is potentially itunes greatest challenger in streaming content. They have been active across the pond in Europe, for quite some time now, but the big four major labels have always combatted them. The corporate entertainment industry fear the masses may get exactly what we want, a paid subscription style model and free to peruse all the music we enjoy. In our DIY punk ethos we forever hold our middle fingers high to the corporate bullshit structure that is major labels as they are a slow moving giant that is dying out. In essence all they are is a bank, plain and simple.
Do we as an indie label function any different, yes and no. We are actually in tune with all the bands we work with and listen to what they need. Don't the bands know their fans best? We work on each album individually and most of all not force them into contracts which bleed them dry or tell them how much we know and our way is the right way. Yet another common practice amongst corporate labels and quite a few indie labels as well. Confucius might say this is why we have two ears and two eyes, yet one mouth, as we need to hear and see more than we speak.
I ask you the music fan and or bands to rally behind the greatness that is Spotify and let's get this music service in the United States. Subscription based models are the only way to fight music piracy and guess what, we as fans win out as well. We will have access to all the music we enjoy listening to and most of all, the money earned from digital streaming goes directly back to the bands who created the great tunes you are playing. Read more on Spotify below from a recent writeup on Mashable.com
Spotify Signs Deal With Universal Music [REPORT]
"Back in February, Spotify was “a few weeks away” from signing a deal with Universal Music. Apparently, those “few weeks” were actually months.
All Things Digital is reporting that the European streaming music service has inked a deal with UMG. That means Spotify now has deals with three of the four major labels: UMG, EMI and Sony. Warner Music Group has yet to get out a pen, but All Things D says it’s close, which means that the service could finally be coming to the U.S.
What’s the holdup? The U.S. record companies are reportedly not overly enthusiastic about Spotify’s “freemium” business model, where the company gives away ad-supported music in hopes of signing paying subscribers to its ad-free version. That premium service lets users choose and replay their music.
Still, Spotify started cutting back on free music in May, requiring users to pay for deeper access, so the company is clearly open to compromise.
It seems rumors have been swirling about Spotify nonstop lately, with folks speculating that it would partner with Google for a cloud-based music service (it didn’t) and that Facebook is interested in teaming up (it’s probably not).
This recent deal can’t be confirmed with Spotify as the company never comments on such deals, but it doesn’t seem out of the question. All four major labels recently signed licensing deals with Apple for its iTunes to the Cloud and iTunes Match services, which seems to indicate that the majors are opening up to the ways of the digital age (iTunes in the Cloud is free, and iTunes Match costs around $25 per year). Still, Apple has a lot more clout than Spotify — to say the least.
It’s been slow going when it comes to bringing Spotify to the U.S., and with plenty of longstanding competitors already in the ring, we’ll just have to wait and see what kind of impact it makes if/when it arrives."
