Posts Tagged ‘Music Business’

Spotify in Ireland? Not Quite…

Saturday, June 13th, 2009

Last week, I posted about Spotify; the insanely scary and cool application which streams pretty much any song to your PC legally, and for free. I was under the impression that the app didn’t seem to care where you were.

Unfortunately, turns out, Spotify allows users to go on a “holiday” for 2 weeks away from their home territory, but after that, they shut you down. Currently, Ireland is not a territory where you can use the free service. Thus, as a citizen of Ireland, I am deSpotified, unless I agree to pay the (frankly quite reasonable) €10 a month to subscribe. Tempting, but somehow, I feel robbed as my UK friends use the service for free. In the music world, the valuable lesson here is that perception of value is more an issue than price. Record companies, take heed!

Spotify in Ireland! It Works

Friday, June 5th, 2009

I was in the UK last week for a welcome break, and everyone there, from my tech-savvy gearslut mates in Brighton (”Silicon Beach” to the rest of us) to my 11 year old (more…)

The Search for the Digital Gatefold

Sunday, March 22nd, 2009

So, I’m finally getting some quality time to myself, sitting down listening to some music on my Media Center, controlling iTunes from my iPod Touch. Maybe I’ll listen to the new Duffy album I just bought. (I like buying music. Hell, if I’m not gonna buy someone else’s, why should I expect anyone to buy mine!) (more…)

Another Ad-Supported Music Site Bites the Dust

Saturday, March 21st, 2009

Yesterday, Spiralfrog croaked, making it the second major “ad-supported” music site to close its doors in as many months. Well, obviously, this means ad-supported music sites don’t work, right? To my mind, that’s not exactly true. These sites had more than their ad-supported nature in common.

They both also used DRM (Digital Rights Management) which stopped people using the music on many common players.

When will the music business finally wake up to it. DRM Doesn’t Result in Money!