Spotify changes!

[scott]

Online music service Spotify is halving the amount of free music that users can listen to.

Users of its free service will be limited to 10 hours per month, half the time currently offered and will only be able to listen to tracks five times, from May.

New users will get six months of free content before the changes kick in.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-13078302

So they are going to be reducing it all down to 10 hours and limiting to 5 listens to a song (per month?) unless you are a premium member which is currently £10 per month!

Just last year they announced that they were making a loss on profit (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-11821021).

What you think about the changes? :P

I guess something that is necessary for them to keep the service going pretty sure they may lose a few free users though. :P

[Jsoh]

this is long due, there was no way they could be making money and as a business obviously they have to do thatt

[Cosmic]

All good things and all that. I certainly wouldn't mind paying to use it, but I simply don't feel that I would be able to get enough use out of it for the price. I guess I will just have to enjoy it while it lasts.

[peteyt]

I heard the labels forced them to do it

[Stephen]

but tbh if you think about it you can understand why the record labels would get pissed

[Mikey]

Aww! I love Spotify :(

[xxMATTGxx]

but tbh if you think about it you can understand why the record labels would get pissed

The record labels get annoyed with anything these days.

[Mark]

This is a fantastic way of making money but not great for Spotify. The majority of users will not pay for premium imo. I pay premium each month as I get it on my phone.

[peteyt]

I bet more and more people just follow the youtube converting trend.

I understand why the labels have done it but it will just force more and more people to download

[jackass]

Well it's going to cause a rapid downflow of users. I for one will turn to Grooveshark! I will miss Spotify though it's true. :(

[beth]

i personally think it'll backfire on the record labels because i know without spotify i will go back to torrenting albums whereas at the moment i don't, and haven't really since i started using spotify a couple of years ago.

[Jack!]

i personally think it'll backfire on the record labels because i know without spotify i will go back to torrenting albums whereas at the moment i don't, and haven't really since i started using spotify a couple of years ago.

Same here, Although I've been a free user since Spotify started, And I don't have any time limits, So i'm not sure if this will affect me.

[xxMATTGxx]

Same here, Although I've been a free user since Spotify started, And I don't have any time limits, So i'm not sure if this will affect me.


As of May 1st, any user who signed up to the free service on or before November 1st 2010 will be able to play each track for free up to a total of 5 times. Users who signed up after the beginning of November will see these changes applied 6 months after the time they set up their Spotify account.

Probably does

[Markeh]

I'd moved onto Grooveshark anyway, but I did like Spotify's interface.

[AgnesIO]

I bet more and more people just follow the youtube converting trend.

I understand why the labels have done it but it will just force more and more people to download

Youtube Converting is the absolute worst way to get your music.

---

A good change, what will happen to Spotify Free users? Spotify Open is obviously cut to 10 hours - will this apply to Spotify Free? If you don't know, Spotify Free is Open without a listening limit. You need a key to get it.

I had Premium for a month for mobile phone access. It is fantastic, but at £120 a year when it is so easy to simply download whatever music you want it seems quite steep.

It is the equivelent of getting 18 albums a year - if you get far more than that I recommend getting Premium.

[Jack!]

Probably does

Great :/

Only five times? That sucks, considering I just play the top lists when i start spotify.

---------- Post added 16-04-2011 at 10:47 AM ----------


Youtube Converting is the absolute worst way to get your music.

---

A good change, what will happen to Spotify Free users? Spotify Open is obviously cut to 10 hours - will this apply to Spotify Free? If you don't know, Spotify Free is Open without a listening limit. You need a key to get it.

I had Premium for a month for mobile phone access. It is fantastic, but at £120 a year when it is so easy to simply download whatever music you want it seems quite steep.

It is the equivelent of getting 18 albums a year - if you get far more than that I recommend getting Premium.

I 'THINK' Free users get the 5 track limit, But no time limit, I hope.

[myke]

This is annoying. I'm going to stop using Spotify when this comes in.

[Johno]

I 'THINK' Free users get the 5 track limit, But no time limit, I hope.

Both "Free" and "Open" users will now be imposed with a 10 hour time limit and the 5 track limit.

It's annoying yes but expected. There are alternatives such as GrooveShark and even Amazon's CloudDrive thing, but Spotify was near perfect for my needs. Remember, there is the "Unlimited" option for £5 instead of Premium. Looks like I'm going to have to find £10 a month.

http://www.spotify.com/uk/blog/archives/2011/04/14/upcoming-changes-to-spotify-free-open/

[peteyt]

Youtube Converting is the absolute worst way to get your music.

---

A good change, what will happen to Spotify Free users? Spotify Open is obviously cut to 10 hours - will this apply to Spotify Free? If you don't know, Spotify Free is Open without a listening limit. You need a key to get it.

I had Premium for a month for mobile phone access. It is fantastic, but at £120 a year when it is so easy to simply download whatever music you want it seems quite steep.

It is the equivelent of getting 18 albums a year - if you get far more than that I recommend getting Premium.

Yeah it's bad but a lot of people aren't bothered about top quality or legal issues, they just want music.

[N!ck]

This is pretty win-win for Spotify.

Users that pay for premium will continue paying. Some free users will convert to premium = more money coming in.

Some free users will leave = lower operating costs.

The free users that stay can't use the service as much = lower operating costs.

Clearly free users mustn't be profitable (even with the adverts) otherwise they'd be making money so losing some is fine in their eyes.

[Jack!]

This is pretty win-win for Spotify.

Users that pay for premium will continue paying. Some free users will convert to premium = more money coming in.

Some free users will leave = lower operating costs.

The free users that stay can't use the service as much = lower operating costs.

Clearly free users mustn't be profitable (even with the adverts) otherwise they'd be making money so losing some is fine in their eyes.

Glad I came across a load of free codes and made lots of accounts :P

[paddy140]

I can't even use it :(

[The Professor]

Meh, bubi spotify. They had a good thing going there!

Btw Cosmic, epic DP. That song will probably be one of the last I discovered on spotify :'(

[Jssy]

Back to iTunes for me.

[Recursion]

I suggest you all go to Grooveshark (http://listen.grooveshark.com/), epic service, no audio adverts and premium is extremely cheap.

[Flisker]

I'm on Spotify Premium and I think it's worth the money because you can stream/play offline 320kbps music and sync it to your smartphone to stream or play offline. you also have access to millions of tracks.