Comments on: If Only Spotify Were More Social

By: Ciaran

Ciaran — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 11:44:36 +0000

As I said to Rab, I totally see that point of view.

But if that’s the case then I’d rather listen to my iTunes collection (no ads) or radio (I don’t have to be tied to a computer, and it’s a bit more interesting). I just don’t see how Spotify proves point of difference with these things, and monetises itself, without some sort of social element.

By: Matt

Matt — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 08:48:37 +0000

I agree with Rab. To me, the USPs are lack of social rubbish – I want to listen to music, I don’t want to say “hey everyone, look at me, haven’t I got cool taste in music!”. I did dabble with last.fm and found the social networking side of things really got in the way – I’d start thinking about what people will see against my profile as opposed to what I’d actually like to listen to. I hate twitter too – just because I’m a software developer, doesn’t mean I have to like social networking – which seems to be a strange link people draw on.

By: Ciaran

Ciaran — Sat, 09 May 2009 23:22:50 +0000

Rab – I agree that not everything needs to be social and often shudder when someone tries to pitch me ‘another’ social network. But when last.fm etc… offer this sort of functionality, but at the same time don’t rely on it, I don’t see what makes Spotify better than those sort of sites. What, in other words, is their USP. Without that sort of thing I see them as ‘just’ radio on the web, and I prefer real radio.

By: Rab

Rab — Sat, 09 May 2009 22:42:09 +0000

Social schmocial, Lack of social networks on music supplying software is a plus to many people. Social networking built into every damn side of the net will be looked upon as the internets ‘reality tv’ phase.

By: Kieron

Kieron — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 12:23:57 +0000

Here you go mate, 35 tracks of old school wonderfulness from my DJ-ing days.

spotify:user:kieron:playlist:7wFVzA1EtkROvrgUKHeoUO

By: Ciaran

Ciaran — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 10:17:18 +0000

So, does it Scroble to last.fm then?!

OK, so that’s definitely great though maybe more could be made of it (I’m sorry, but I’m just a really lazy user and expect things to be right in front of me). I also like the idea of Spotify concentrating on being the best music player but hope that it does work to build social functionality into its operations as it moves forward.

As for Joe & Martin’s suggestions that iPhone/portable versions will be available before too long, that really could be a game-changer. I still wonder though whether they will be able to raise enough advertising revenue to make this worthwhile for the record companies.

@Joe – I think you miss my point slightly: I agree that many people will no longer bother to download music now they can stream it without any hassle. My point was that Radiohead offered people a legal way to download free music, but instead most chose the illegal version.

My fear with Spotify is that exactly the same thing will happen: those how used to download legally (other than luddites like me, who still like owning transportable music)) will switch to Spotify but the pirates will still flourish – this will see the record companies’ existing download revenues drop with small ad revenues to replace them.

Your comment that you have only downloaded one album since using Spotify would have me sweating were I a record company exec.

What’s for sure is that Andres (I appreciate the comment btw) and the guys at Spotify have a very interesting product that could do some very interesting things to the record industry.

And Kieron – the version I wanted to put on the list was a Q-Tip/Michael Jackson mash-up, but that was the nearest I could find!

By: Joe

Joe — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 10:07:16 +0000

It seems you haven’t noticed that Spotify does scrobble natively to last.fm,
which means Spotify users kan take advantage of the social aspects of last.fm.
Furthermore, there is also a greasemonkey script which makes all artists in last.fm
clickable into Spotify.

Also, it seems you may not be the target user for Spotify since you mostly listen to
music when offline. I listen to 95 % of my music when online so for me Spotify is the
best solution.

And, your remark about In Rainbows is somehow off here I think. With Spotify there is
no need to download anything. Why go through a lot of hassle a filesharing sites when
I can listen to it for free with instant playback? I can only speak for myself here, but since I
signed up for Spotify three months ago I have only downloaded one album (with Frida
Hyvönen, an artist currently not available in Spotify). Before I downloaded albums all
the time, but not anymore. For many of my friends this is also the case, even though some
still has to download for their mp3-players.

According to rumours in Swedish press there is an Iphone Spotify version in closed beta.
I have no idea how much truth there is in that, but it wouldn’t surprise me if Spotify wants
to create versions for all mobile phone users out there. And when that day comes, then
we will have a complete revolution.

All the best,
– Joe -

By: Andres

Andres — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 08:23:50 +0000

Hi Ciaran,

Good post, you’re right that Spotify doesn’t have any social features aside from playlists at the moment but one feature which we did recently launch was scrobbling to last.fm. That way you can use the two services in combination which may satisfy your social needs.

Details here:
https://www.spotify.com/blog/archives/2008/12/18/spotify-scrobbles/

Thanks again for the post, we’re always interested in users feedback.

Regards,
Andres
Spotify

By: Martin

Martin — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 00:48:49 +0000

Spotify already works together with Last.fm’s audioscrobbler. Spotify focus on to be the best music player and to co-operate with the other social networks. And it will last just weeks before you could use the service when you are on the run.

By: Kieron

Kieron — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 22:08:50 +0000

If you think you’re behind the curve then consider that I’ve just started using Twitter a couple of weeks ago – I’m well behind!

Interesting to hear your thoughts on Spotify, personally speaking; as you know I love it. TBH I’ve never used Last.fm (see what I mean about being behind?) so can’t compare the social functions. However, I do know that the team at Spotify are mad keen to make this the best service of this type ever. So I know there will be loads and loads of cool stuff coming up – remember its still in Beta.

Until then though it more than does the job for me now, and I’m still in awe at how good the streaming is. In fact I’m listening to your playlist now. Still not sure if I prefer the original “Breathe and Stop” by Q-Tip or the mashup from Mr. On and the JB’s. Hmmm