Spotify: Goodbye Music Business, Hello Starving Artist – Opinion

Spotify

For the two of you not yet in the know, Spotify is a music application and it’s been causing quite a buzz. Through deals with major and indie labels alike, the service legally streams a vast catalogue of music, completely free. And it is growing quickly.

Users simply download the application, open it and search for what they’d like to hear. As Spotify’s catalogue is fully licensed by the rights holders, all of this is – unlike The Pirate Bay – completely legal.

But is Spotify the answer to the recorded music industry’s illegal filesharing problems?

Dance music producer Mark Moore, who hit the top of the singles chart with S’Express and has since gone on to run his own record label and club nights, says quite the opposite. Far from the saviour to an industry’s ills, he believes Spotify is the final nail in the recorded music business’s coffin – and artists need to snap out of their complacency…

*

How brilliant is Spotify? I really can’t get enough of it. For the music fan it’s a gift from Heaven. But let’s face it – it’s the final nail in the coffin for the music business as we know it. Just like the biz shot itself in the foot by switching to a CD format (which could be copied in a way that made those ‘Home taping is killing music’ stickers seem quaint) now they are doing it again with Spotify and the likes.

So, I hear you cry, what’s the problem? Spotify say they are fighting the pirates by making music free to listen to. But instead of going on torrent sites and downloading music illegally (something that at least took a bit of effort), now you can go to a legal site which has kindly gathered everything in one place to download at leisure.

“But you can’t actually download the tracks on Spotify,” you say? Well, the fact is that anyone with half a brain can download anything which can be heard on one’s computer. Only today someone sent me a link for an application created specifically for downloading tracks from Spotify. Pirate Bay is considered illegal for ‘pointing’ people in the right direction to steal music (they don’t host any music files themselves) and yet Spotify, arguably and unintentionally, does pretty much the same thing, only it’s legal. Legal because Spotify has the blessing of the record companies. I bet Pirate Bay will get more people to buy CDs than Spotify.

But to tell you the truth this is all irrelevant. Just like people were brainwashed into thinking CDs (and even MP3s!) sound better than vinyl, so will people’s mindsets change thanks to Spotify. Ownership of music will become meaningless and people will no longer feel the need to possess something which is available free on tap to their laptop or mobile.

I love this idea from a Zen point of view but it really is ‘goodbye music business’ (may or may not be a good thing) and ‘hello starving young artist’. Declining sales will decline further. Psychologically, music will become even more devalued than the free CDs given away with magazines. True, the live experience of seeing your favourite band will live on but would some young whipper-snappers bother to press up 300 seven inches, or put tracks on iTunes, when no one buys music anymore? If they did it would only be to plug the gig and sell the t-shirt.

So why have the record companies allowed this to happen? I guess they haven’t looked ahead. They haven’t realised the implications of Spotify just like they were late to realise the power of iTunes and downloading tracks a few years back. Maybe that’s why they were so keen to jump on board. They get a nice cheque from Spotify for now and they will pay for it later. Only they won’t pay later. They will rape and pillage the last pennies and leave the battered corpse for someone else.

As for the artist – I doubt they will see much at all. Most people I spoke to weren’t even consulted about having their tracks put up. I certainly wasn’t consulted. I’m okay with my old tunes being there but I would be livid if a brand new album went up.

Perhaps record companies don’t want to be seen as old fashioned and fighting against progress. My cries of doom feel like The Church getting up in arms about the printing press and not wanting books falling into the hands of normal folk. Or the sheet music publishers when the gramophone record was invented. But both of these world changing things allowed a new business to thrive and artists a new outlet to make a living from. Will Spotify and other free music sites create these things?

We are living in the wild times of the Internet. Cowboy times. Orgy times! Last.fm, YouTube, Pirate Bay, music blogs. We’re living in paradise and it’s all for free. Copyright has lost any meaning and it’s one giant party. But we will suffer. Spotify wants to do movies next. When Hollywood is hit by all the free downloading it’s the interesting, independent films that will lose the funding. Money will only be splashed out on obvious crowd pleasers. Dumb movies. Quality will take a dive and only the bland will survive. In a world where entertainment is free it will become harder for the artists to make the things we are demanding for free. They’ll be too busy with their second jobs trying to make a living.

What’s the solution? Put old tracks up there by all means but let them wait six months before the brand new album appears. Just like you had to wait before a new movie came on TV or on DVD. If people want to hear it they can damn well go to a record shop and have a listen – and keep them in business by buying something while they are there. If that’s too old fashioned then listen to snippets on iTunes or Amazon. Why does everyone think it’s their right to hear before buying in a way that requires absolutely no effort on their part? Spoonfed, pampered people. Go to a friend’s house and listen to it there… if you have a friend. Just make some effort.

So as I sit here listening to the third Os Mutantes album on Spotify (which I was going to buy on Amazon), I await the new world. I was told downloading on iTunes would mean all sorts of interesting things would get in the charts. The charts sound pretty predictable to me. No crazy, weird stuff made in someone’s kitchen getting in. Those people were wrong in their predictions. I sure hope I’m wrong in mine. In the meantime I continue my love/hate affair with Spotify.

Mark Moore is a dance music producer, DJ and journalist. He founded S’Express and runs London nightclubs Electrogogo and Can Can.