from Hacker News

200+ Labels Withdraw Their Music From Spotify: Are Its Fortunes Unravelling?

by glymor on 11/21/11, 12:16 PM with 53 comments

• by mbesto on 11/21/11, 1:21 PM

  Add to that the feeling that their music loses its specialness by its exploitation as a low value/free commodity.

  Interesting quote. Is music production being exploited as a low value commodity, or is it in reality a low-value commodity? With the insane amount of music that is available I personally feel like it's the latter, and the reverse exploitation of publishers/distributors has gone on for too long.

• by akmiller on 11/21/11, 3:35 PM

  more than 200 labels has withdrawn its entire catalogue from Spotify, Napster, Simfy and Rdio.

  Somewhat sensationalist headline trying to make it sound like it's Spotify that's losing these labels when in reality it's the labels opting out of ALL subscription based music services. Not to say that it's not a huge problem but there is no need to single out Spotify in the title.

• by philwelch on 11/21/11, 1:07 PM

  "because it turns a service that has everything into a service that has “most stuff”"

  Spotify already was a service that has "most stuff"--it was never a challenge to find holes in their catalog.

  And judging from the ads that the free version of Spotify plays for me, either their entire userbase is really into country, or their advertising is more intended to badger me into buying a subscription so albums I actually like aren't interrupted by country music every 2-3 tracks.

• by waterlesscloud on 11/21/11, 12:54 PM

  I have a strong suspicion that these particular "labels" mostly have 1 artist on them.

• by ssharp on 11/21/11, 3:50 PM

  If someone is going to solve the music problem, the business model should be as focused on addressing the concerns of labels and artists as it is on consumers. If the middleman is making customers happy, and artist/labels feel like their getting an equitable fee, lock-in will happen and it will become a strategic disadvantage to leave.

  It's far too easy to say "give the customers what they want. Your model is antiquated, catch up!" That isn't solving a problem. If we only look at the consumer end, we're bound to end up with lots of models that don't interest labels and artists, and ultimately will not satisfy customers either. If the ultimate destination is a world where we largely marginalize labels (which seems to be something a lot of people advocate as it will push costs down), then does Spotify get us any closer to that goal? Not as it stands now.

• by AndrewDucker on 11/21/11, 12:48 PM

  I'd love to know whether Spotify was generally causing an increase or a decrease in the amount spent on music.

  I'm currently spending £120/year on music that I wasn't spending before, but I'm aware that I might not be normal.

• by fauldsh on 11/21/11, 3:54 PM

  This is truly the big problem with Spotify. They're completely at the mercy of the big labels/distributors, who aren't receiving enough money for Spotify to matter to them that much. Whereas Spotify completely cannot afford for labels to pull their music.

  The problem is beyond sheer numbers of subscribers as well, Spotify needs people to listen to less, so that the money generated per song play increases and makes them a more attractive distribution medium. Radio stations do this by having DJ's talk lots between songs and varying the popularity of the songs they play, so they don't play too many new and expensive songs. The only tool Spotify has to alter the revenue per song play is changing the subscription price.

• by waldr on 11/21/11, 2:36 PM

  I wonder how many new fans those artists got from being on spotify, how many people then paid to see them live and recommended them to their friends. It's difficult to put a price on that.

• by gcp on 11/21/11, 2:04 PM

  This is a gamble that can turn both ways; what these labels/artists now risk is that they basically no longer exist, or are no longer discoverable, for a large portion of listeners.

• by mvkel on 11/21/11, 1:06 PM

  Oof. The sole reason I have a Spotify subscription is for its vast dubstep catalog. Checking out my "favorites" playlist today, I hope I don't see half of them gone!

• by JonnieCache on 11/21/11, 1:01 PM

  When I read this I was not expecting it to be STholdings! That's about half of my favorite new music right there. Glad I didn't buy a subscription now.

• by bookwormAT on 11/21/11, 3:34 PM

  If more gaps in Spotify's library really makes people purchase albums again?

  I know it makes me switch to Grooveshark.

• by eyko on 11/21/11, 3:37 PM

  Scumbag STHoldings. Withdraws music from Spotify. Available in Soundcloud.

• by cjstewart88 on 11/21/11, 3:20 PM

  IMO Spotify is overrated, www.tubalr.com is where its at.