I wish I could get a music only Spotify subscription.
I’d be willing to pay slightly more than I pay for my subscription with everything, if they removed the other stuff from the UI entirely, guaranteed that none of my money would go towards podcasts or audiobooks or whatever, and that every extra penny went to the musicians I listen to not more profit for Spotify.
Yes, Spotify is worth less to me when it includes anything other than music.
> Also, I’d like a button which allowed my kid’s music to be erased from any algorithm that helps chose me music.
Preach.
My “Replay 2020” music is the last yearly replay that’s any good. Because I had my first child in 2021 and everything after that is lullaby music. My “For you” and personal radio station are now saturated with the music I play for my kids, and it’s completely destroying my music discovery. Apple Music really needs to fix this.
Set up an Apple Music account and then one for the child. However car rides still contaminate my music as my phone is the one plugged in, and I’m left back where I started.
It badly needs some sort of ‘exclude this artist, always’ option.
For me this would be indistinguishable from a ‘no Taylor Swift’ option.
They also have a ever so slightly finer grained control over telling it that you don't like the song or (one of, I forget which) the album/artist that is playing.
Same. I have a dedicated app for podcasts, I'd rather keep Spotify specialized. Long-term the push to podcasts is simply better economics for Spotify, so they aren't going to stop going in that direction anytime soon.
> Corporations run on a form of code – financial regulation and accounting practices – and the modern version of this code literally prohibits corporations from treating human beings with empathy. The principle of fiduciary duty to investors means that where there is a chance to make an investor richer while making a worker or customer miserable, management is obliged to side with the investor, so long as the misery doesn’t backfire so much that it harms the investor’s quarterly return.
That’s not the full story. Corporations have charters that include things other than a return for investors. Investors also don’t care about maximizing returns as long as expected targets can be hit.
I want to start by saying that I'm not defending Spotify's position, but rather trying to explain it.
The problem with a music-only Spotify subscription is that it's a pretty undifferentiated product with little control over the forces around it. Anyone else can sell what they're selling: Apple, Google, Amazon, Tidal.
Spotify is a tiny company compared to most of those and doesn't control any of the platforms it uses: iPhone, Android, Alexa. While Europe's Digital Markets Act might make it harder for a company to kick Spotify off their platform, that's hardly worldwide. While the DMA might mean in-app payments with lower fees, it's looking like platforms will still be getting something.
Spotify doesn't own the music content that it's streaming. It's getting that from labels and artists.
Not to denigrate Spotify's software or user experience too much, but to an extent they're just a middleman between you and the music you want to hear. I'm sure people will reply about how they prefer the Spotify experience to other services and I don't want to dismiss that, but it's certainly less differentiated when everyone has the same content.
Now with non-music content, Spotify has differentiation. Even if the deal isn't 100% exclusive (since video is going on YouTube), it might still lock out Apple and Amazon. It might also restrict the ability for Google/YouTube to use it in a non-video format. Now there's more differentiation. There's stuff you can (mostly) only get from Spotify.
Even if platforms aren't doing dirty things to harm Spotify, there is often value in being the default in an ecosystem. If you don't have a streaming service, Alexa devices will suggest Amazon Music and you can sign up with no friction at all. That's different from signing up for Spotify and then linking it to my Alexa account. Apple Music is installed by default on iPhones. Spotify has a significant first-mover advantage, but companies that control important platforms and have deep pockets are coming after them. Offering something you can't get from the competition gives Spotify a way to keep subscribers and gain new subscribers instead of being an undifferentiated middleman between you and your music.
I ended up switching to Qobuz for that reason basically. It's much more music-focused than Spotify and the editorial content is pretty good (lots of albums have an "about" section which gives you some context about the album).
I wish I could get podcast only Spotify subscription. I don't want to open the app then have to click around to get the podcasts, podcasts should come up by default.
What is your basis for this? I've spoken to many people about it, and most people who actually listen to podcasts I know use a seperate app for podcasts. Not wanting then unified seems pretty normal from my perspective.
That's a strange parallel to draw. Spotify is one of many places to stream music. Most of which are better than Spotify. Unless we're talking about shopping around citizenship, taxes aren't generally a thing you have granular control over.
I’d be willing to pay slightly more than I pay for my subscription with everything, if they removed the other stuff from the UI entirely, guaranteed that none of my money would go towards podcasts or audiobooks or whatever, and that every extra penny went to the musicians I listen to not more profit for Spotify.
Yes, Spotify is worth less to me when it includes anything other than music.