Spotify Newsletter #132

Your Weekly Dose of Spotify News

Oct 21, 2022

Hello! Welcome to the latest edition of the Spotify Newsletter.

Let it be said: Spotify is not perfect.

The hardcore audiophiles might lean Tidal, or Qobuz. The Apple folks are happy to keep it in the family and inhabit Apple Music.

There was a time when the Apple iTunes store was like a second home. Trusty iPod by my side.

But then streaming happened. And just as when Dylan plugged in and went electric …. everything changed.

Spotify is where I landed in the musical chairs of streaming platforms.

And I haven't looked back. To this day I am amazed at how effortlessly I’m able to click from Tom Waits to Charles Mingus to Joan Amatrading to Sister Sledge.

I have boxes upon boxes of my beloved CDs, but I don't miss them.

I think about turning back to vinyl to start a new hobby + relive my musical youth.

Even if I chose to dive into the vinyl pool, I'm not turning away from streaming.

Get this — I'm listening to my iTunes library right now! 20k+ items. That's 63 days of tunes. And I am loving it.

But I'm not closing my streaming account. If anything, I think it's good to shift around platforms to keep things fun and interesting. Besides, you’re going to have some tapes, discs and albums that can’t be streamed, so good to have all sides covered.

I also listen to SiriusXM every day. There are 6-10 channels I love, channels I must have.

I could still run that string of music goodness — Tom Waits to Charles Mingus to Joan Amatrading to Sister Sledge - with my CDs, or via iTunes, or even my albums.

But with streaming….. it’s a most lovely endeavor.

I bring all this up because of a good thread I read via the writer Ted Goia.

The gist: Qubuz has great album info, liner notes, etc… Spotify doesn't. Because they don't get it. Or they don't care. Making sure you know the band personnel on Miles Davis' Kind of Blue is not important in their grand plans of audiobooks, podcasts with Duchesses and whatever else they can mix into their global takeover of All Things Audio.

Another good note on the Substack Dirt focused on Spotify's ongoing design and content issues.

Spotify wants me to listen to its recommended podcasts and random pop playlists, while hiding my own curated selections from sight. I struggle to find playlists that I’ve made and albums I’ve recently listened to. Even the “recently played” section requires some scrolling to find. Instead, the app’s home page delivers a mishmash of suggestions for podcasts and music that Spotify thinks I would like.

I'm the biggest Spotify homer out there and even I think about what the heck is going on with the user interface.

The homepage can feel a touch hectic at times if you’re just in for a leisurely streaming stroll. Often it feels the design+content is trying way too hard to make me happy, giving me a dose of everything in the trick bag when I just really want to get to that Grateful Dead album I listened to yesterday.

Beyond all my minor bellyaching is this: I feel blessed to have this platform.

There must be close to 100 million songs on Spotify. Thousands are uploaded daily.

Sure, I still don't know why Van Morrison's Tupoelo Honey is not available when all his other albums are - but that's besides the point. I can always pull up the iTunes library!

I realize it’s not Spotify’s fault certain albums/songs are unavailable, but it does highlight that not everything is available to stream.

But almost everything. And that’s good enough.

There is so much music a click away it's almost too crazy to think about. Yes, the trail to get you from point A to point B while partaking in music discovery is not without its pitfalls.

And yet … the whole big crazy streaming thing is awesome.

I love it, and I give thanks for the Spotify team, as well as all the other folks out there who have crated platforms for music streaming.

All heroes.

Spotify is not perfect. It clearly has aspirations beyond just 'place to stream your favorite music.'

I personally would be fine with an all music Spotify. But I also understand their drive to build something truly epic and global — all wrapped around audio.

Who knows.. maybe they’ll split the service one day; music only, and music+.

Either way, I'm going to enjoy streaming music everyday. It’s fun, addictive, accessible, adventurous, totally awesome, and we should be grateful we have the technology to stream this endless wave of music — wherever, whenever.

Hallelujah!

★In the SPOTlight★

🔥 Spotify survey hints at $19.99 ‘Platinum’ plan that would include HiFi streaming

The unannounced plan would offer advanced library and playlist features — and maybe even access to audiobooks

🔥 ‘The Playlist’ fans are saying Spotify biopic is “the best Netflix original in a while”

Viewers of the new Netflix miniseries The Playlist have heaped praise on the series.

🔥 PlaylistSupply Debuts New Organic Playlist Search Feature

The PlaylistSupply Organic Playlist Search feature gives artists a revolutionary opportunity to directly target “Discovered On” playlists exclusively and save tons of hours of work when searching for the most quality Spotify playlists and curators to market.