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Spotify quietly moves lyrics behind a paywall.
(techcrunch.com)
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this post was submitted on 03 May 2024
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It didn’t originally have lyrics so free users are not really losing anything.
EDIT: they created an incredible UI around a service that upended the music industry and y’all are mad that they’re charging to use some extra features? u still have your music for free. they probably shouldn’t have had a feature free and then charged for it, but in the end you still have free music. what free streaming service is better?
Originally Spotify started with no users. So they’re not really losing anything if people migrate to another service lmao
Sure but they’re not leaving... They have the largest user base by over 100M. Is that why u added the “lmao”? Sarcasm?
I left over the past year 🤷♂️ I imagine more and more will do so as the service continues to slide further to shit
Me too, and Lemmy inspired me to unsub! 😉
What is shit about it though? Just pay for it. It’s worth it.
I've paid for Spotify for years and it is, without a doubt, getting shittier. They removed the integrated google maps car mode without a real replacement. They push podcasts, which most users do not care about, heavily now, despite having poor support for them UX-wise. They keep moving UI elements around without purpose. I've read they also have an exploitative revenue model for musicians on the service, but haven't confirmed that bit myself.
never knew about the Google maps mode. works for me: https://support.spotify.com/us/article/google-maps/
Apple has many more subscribers than in the USA, but I know Europe uses Spotify more. Being the biggest means they are more top heavy in the market.
But the funny thing is that even with a larger user base, Spotify has NEVER posted a profit (which gets significantly more negative each year). They also have been loosing a substantial percentage of their revenue per user each year as they further enshittify their platform.
They should be VERY concerned about losing users, and taking away features will end up doing just that.
I honestly doubt if you'd isolate Apple Music it'd be any different for them.
So confused. A bunch of people using a platform for free criticizing them for never making a profit, then complaining when they try to make a profit by charging for a feature that doesn’t interfere with listening to music?
Do y’all feel the same way about YouTube?
Yes I feel the same way about YouTube, and I’m confident many others do as well.
You can pretend that users who trade their time listening to and viewing ads don’t deserve the to be upset with enshittification, but I wholeheartedly disagree. That line of thinking tracks very well with Musk’s approach to X, another service that was the “biggest” but not profitable. Look how they have done moving features behind paywalls and upending the expectations of their user base.
Okay, well YouTube isn’t going anywhere.
Twitter was hardly ever profitable. I understand what you’re saying, that they need to keep growing their free user base to become profitable with ads, but they can’t do it with ads alone and I’m sure they’re time crunched. I could see them selling to a larger corporation at some point you think you dislike Spotify now. Just wait.
Twitter was hardly profitable, but Spotify has never posted a profit. In fact, they are more negative in regard to profit every year. Twitter and Spotify are very similar in that their main success is volume, but not profitability.
I have no doubt Spotify could or would sell and get even worse. Just like Twitter.
People use it BECAUSE it was free and feature rich. When they start taking away the latter to bolster the former, you’ll see a migration to the next best free, feature rich service. I quit Spotify 4 months ago, and I don’t feel like I’m missing out on anything.
what are you using instead?
I switched to Apple Music. It’s not my fav, but the bundle with other apple services made the price right for a family plan.
cool. i'll check it out. i have almost all streaming services except Apple TV and don't plan on getting it so might not make sense for me.
Switching gears to Apple, I had heard of AppleTV but never was aware of the shows. I got it bundled when I switched music apps, and holy shit Ted Lasso and Foundation are amazing. I’m pleasantly surprised with the quality, though it doesn’t have as much content as the other services. But there’s also a lot less bullshit to sift through to find something good.
If you are at all interested, try just a month. You could watch most of the things that interest you in that timeframe most likely.
I’m about a month in and finished out two full series and working on a third.
Thanks for the review. I got too many services now but maybe if a really good Apple exclusive show comes out.
Do you really believe this will make them more money?
not this alone, but as one person commented, the lyrics were a deciding factor of Spotify over YouTube Music. this among other features could draw more paid users. do other platforms offer lyrics that follow the music for free?
TikTok has a huge user base and they're leaving.
Spotify has a huge user base but most people pay nothing. They'll be leaving if they never learn how to leech more money from artists and listeners. Thus, these kind of desperate moves like hiding lyrics.
The TikTok thing is likely influenced by the possible ban in US.
As their users keep growing they can charge more in ads, but to your point, they will have to find a way to get more people to pay for the service. Maybe they need tiered pricing. One price for no ads and another price for additional features like lyrics.
Google users didn't originally have gmail, so if Google paywalls it nobody is losing anything?
Apples to oranges
That seems like egg plant to aubergine to me
Haha more like eggplant to farmers market.
When was "originally"? Lyric availability is the main reason I chose spotify over YouTube music. If it's not included in the free plan then you can't compare that and won't pick spotify.
When you say choose you mean you use it for free or pay for it?
Pay for it after trying the free version. Both spotify and YouTube music are terrible on the free version.
People can try Spotify premium for 3 months free, but I understand what you’re saying. Some people won’t want to sign up for something that they have to remember to cancel, but if they’re truly in the market for a paid service it shouldn’t matter.
Some features makes sense to be behind paywalls like the ai dj feature but basic features that was previously free is ridiculous
correct me if I'm wrong, but all other major streaming services have lyrics behind paywall (Apple, Amazon, Tidal). with Spotify having the largest user base, it makes sense to try to get some users to switch rather than keep a feature free that their competitors require subscription for.
I have an issue with free features becoming behind a paywall no matter which company do it. I have no issue with new pro features to be added
fair. in your opinion, it should have never been free to begin with.
Yes, i wouldn't mind