From Napster’s Music Piracy To Spotify
Before Spotify, Apple Music or Pandora, many streaming platforms were available. However, LimeWire and Napster were becoming more popular. These platforms allowed users to download and listen to music legally, which was considered music piracy. These illegal platforms declined with the introduction of new platforms such as Spotify and its innovative business model. This report will look at Spotify’s past, present, as well as the potential future to find out if it will be around in the future. Spotify is loved for its advanced technology and personalization of user experience. However, the company faces criticism from artists for some of its business models. The Journal of Law, Technology and the Internet published “Staying the Spotify Revolution: Recalibrating the Power in Digital Copyright” as part of its article “Staying the Spotify Revolution”. It stated that after receiving tiny royalty checks, artists began to distrust the service. Spotify has not been forthcoming with artists regarding its financial flows. Artists have asked for transparency, and Spotify has refused to do so. Artists are faced with two options: Stay on Spotify to collect minimal royalties and leave the service for Spotify revenue and exposure. Many artists have decided to abandon Spotify and choose the latter. If artists are not satisfied with Spotify’s service and compensation, this can lead to artists pulling their music off the streaming platform. Taylor Swift, for example, pulled her Spotify music in 2014 due to poor royalties. Spotify relies on artists’ music to compete with other streaming platforms, such as apple music which pays more per stream. The company has been working on this for the past few years. Forbes writes, “Google and Amazon Are Reasons Spotify Needs Its own Speaker.” The article also states that Spotify is developing its own hardware. According to press reports, the Swedish music service has posted job openings on its website. They are looking for hardware and manufacturing specialists to help build their “first physical products.”
Spotify’s future was bright from the start. Its cutting-edge machine learning technology gave it an opportunity to address piracy issues. This cutting-edge technology has made Spotify today’s most popular streaming platform. The streaming industry’s over saturation, conflicts with artist compensation and rising costs of licensing with record companies make it uncertain. Spotify’s future will be impacted by the growing cost of accessing these platforms. Piracy will continue to rise despite all the efforts to close down sites that infringe on copyright.
