AKA, Why I Don’t Use Spotify.
Beyond their limited selection, of course.
The problem with Spotify is that they’re designed with the labels in mind. With iTune’s dominance the major labels have cut sweet deals for Apple competitors in an attempt to wrest control back from Cupertino. This is why Amazon had DRM-free tracks first. It’s why Amazon has cheaper featured MP3s, the same ones the labels demanded iTunes price higher than 9.99 an album.
But all of this anti-Apple efforts has lead the labels to cut a deal with the very devil that put them in this position: startups attempting to make music free. Like Spotify.
The trouble is, while this is great in the short term for the consumer, it screws musicians in amazing ways. See, labels license entire libraries then make money off ad sales or subscriptions, not track sales or track plays. Hence: you can’t credit any individual payments back to the artist. And then the books become muddled and no one knows who should be paid what.
With Spotify the labels have outdone themselves. Beyond licensing catalogues on the whole, they’ve invested in Spotify. So there’s no actual licensing going on since they’re the same entity! So the labels just display their ‘own’ content and reap the ad sales or subscriptions. And artists see nary a dime. (Information Is Beautiful)
