Spotify

I'm a bit late on this one; Taylor Swift's controversial pull from Spotify and other music streaming services was all around the internet a few weeks back, and as a loyal Spotify subscriber and listener, I had a few days of, "Hey Tay-Tay, you can't do that! You don't understand. You literally can't even...". But then real life hit and I had one million and one other things to do with my time rather than write this blog post which, to be honest, sounded a lot more fun than the other things I had to do [read: statistics homework].

So, my opinion on Spotify? Well, in my meager, lowly, broke opinion it is the best thing that has happened to music since the Walkman (those existed at some point, right?).

So wait, people actually used these?

While I missed the Napster piracy scandal years by a few, I am all too common with the argument. If I may toot my own horn, I've always tried to download legally; 1) I've always been scared of "breaking the law", regardless if it's nearly impossible to enforce and 2) there is some satisfaction in legally acquiring a song in whichever form, knowing that the artist will at least see some of the money I spent. Back when Best Buy opened up near me, they had a CD burning station; seventh grade me thought he was so cool going there, making a mix-tape [CD?] composing 90% of Aerosmith and Van Halen and then putting in on in my room for the next week. There was and still is some satisfaction in that!

And then I grew up and realized that music is expensive, and the more you listen to, the more expensive it gets. It's like a drug habit, except the drug habit is good for the economy and artist, but you still get screwed (how does that even work?!). And coinciding with my entrance to the adult world was the heavy role of YouTube in everyday life. Like, seriously, name another site that can honestly compete with YouTube; answer, there aren't any. Vimeo is a joke and everyone hates VEVO cause they are the sole reason why we can't post songs online.

So where does that leave me and the rest of the poor college-aged population with barely enough money to buy McDonalds? Answer: pirating music. Before Spotify, it was the only way to maintain the drug addiction that is new music.
But then Spotify comes around and completely sweeps us off our feet; all the music you want for free, or pay a few bucks a month and get all the music AND the ability to take it with you wherever you go WITHOUT ads? I remember when I first signed up; it was magical and I've never thought of leaving since! Some people cringe at the thought of paying $10 a month for music, but I'm just going to call those people cheap and tell them to learn some value in their life. $120 a year (half that if you're a student) is not a lot of money when you consider just how much music you will listen to on Spotify. Seriously, even if you have a very narrow set of music you like, the ability to discover other artists and music within that genre is amazing. Our society is so used to getting things for dirt cheap/free that when we are faced with actually paying a little more for something, we cringe. Screw you society!

Taylor raises some good points; it's bad how little money some artists see. But as the Spotify replied, they pay over 70% of what they make to the artists and record labels - the latter takes most of the money. If it's a money issue, raise it with them. They're the ones holding back progress.

My point is this: we've reached this point in society where we've experienced streaming and instant music gratification, and we're not going back, Taylor. You may want us to buy your CD and yes, I understand that's fair. But people are going to get your music online one way or another, legally or illegally (your YouTube video count for Shake It Off doubled since you removed the music from Spotify - I highly doubt no one ripped the audio.). So why single out Spotify? Because it's easy, that's why.

So Tay-Tay, while I enjoy your music (enjoy - not love), I'm on Team Spotify here; get with the times or your next album might not sell as well.

But actually, come back...please.

Jacob