All You Need to Know About Spotify

Alright. I promised this post this past weekend and here it is: All You Need to Know About Spotify.

What the hell is it? Why do I keep seeing it everywhere?

Well, the best-explained and most comprehensive article I've seen on the Swedish program just came up on my iTouch MeeHive today. It's from lifehacker.com and is called something like "Spotify is the best desktop Music Program We've Ever Seen!" or something but actually gives a fair assessment of the program listing its flaws.

Read that article for a comprehensive review of the program. What I want to focus on is speculating exactly how this new program will effect our beloved music industry.

First of all, what is Spotify? Spotify is basically the iTunes store but instead of 30 second clips it gives you the whole song. You search a song or an artist and it spits back at you whatever it has from its 3 million song library. iTunes holds 10 million songs so keep in my mind YOU MAY NOT FIND EVERYTHING YOU ARE LOOKING FOR. Spotify is not an online catalogue of every song ever recorded but it could very well measure up to or even surpass the bulk of the iTunes library in the future.

What Spotify does is stream the songs you collect over the internet, so as long as you have WiFi or 3G you can access its online song library. You sign in like you would to a website and presto 3 million songs and counting. You can also make playlists and save them so you can listen to them whenever. You can share playlists.

What you cannot do with Spotify:

1) Transfer music to your mp3 player device.

- Sorry. Ya just can't, but Spotify is awaiting approval on an app they submitted to Apple for the iTouch and iPhone (read about it here and here)

Okay... so does Spotify change things in our arguably decrepit music industry?

Some say it's going to kill iTunes. However, I would agree more with this MusicAlly article here. The bottom line is that although Spotify gives you access to an expansive library of free music, you do not own this music. There is no physical or technological representation of this music in your possession. Yes the model of our industry is changing but could it ever really be that people don't want to own their music?

I liken Spotify to the radio. It is a discovery tool. It may be good to rummage through old bands whose albums you have not heard in a while, or to look up a new emerging act, or to listen to a band you've been hearing about for years and never been willing to lay down money for just to check out. The radio is the same in that most consumers become exposed to songs and artists through this medium and then go out and purchase or, in most cases, download the music.

Will Spotify make artists more money then if it is just a tool for discovering music? I'm not sure. They do pay a royalty for every song played though (read more here) plus Spotify also has a premium service with better quality streaming which I would guess a portion of must fund artists. Plus, labels will probably get on board soon and negotiate with Spotify to make money.

Now, will Spotify save the industry? No. Only a complete revolution in how we market music and artists can save it. However, Spotify may serve as a good starting point in changing the industry. What its got that nothing else does is worldwide access of gigs upon gigs of music. How does the industry utilize this?

What if labels worked with Spotify to add onto each artists page a Donation button? Several independent acts (including notables such as Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails) have been successful in providing free music then asking their fans to donate as little or as much money as they wish. So, you don't need to pay if you don't want to but those devoted fans who wish to support the music have the option to. Doesn't this simply reduce the industry to an open guitar case on the sidewalk next to a begging performer??

Obviously this humble blogging college student doesn't have the answers. But, what I can tell you is that the winds of change are picking up.

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What other ways could Spotify possibly fit into the industry's business model? How can labels and artists utilize Spotify? Your comments are endlessly appreciated.