The Value Is In The Relationship, Not The MP3 File

Spotify Finally Becomes A True Platform: Now Let's See Some Innovation

from the build-in-cwf+rtb dept

Thu, Dec 1st 2011 7:59pm — Mike Masnick

Nearly two years ago, Spotify first hinted at its desire to set itself up as a platform that others could build things on top of. And it's finally become a reality. This could actually be quite cool. Just a couple months ago, we were pointing out that just "putting radio on the internet" isn't that cool, but that we need killer apps for music. Spotify as a platform will hopefully make it easier for those killer apps to happen. The current crop of apps that they launched with are pretty ordinary, but I'm excited to think what comes next. Things I'd love to see: Turntable.fm (still the most addictive and coolest "social music" service out there) integrated directly into Spotify) as well as integration with things like TopSpin or Bandcamp. Right now there are options to do ticketsales, but what if you could build in ways to let people buy merch... or, better yet, connect with the artist directly via Spotify? And those are the obvious ones. The real killer app is probably going to take us all entirely by surprise. This is, by the way, yet another reason that short-sighted artists and labels are going to regret dropping out of Spotify. You have to be where the killer apps are or you're going to get left behind.

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Filed Under: api, apps, innovation, music, platform
Companies: spotify

33 Comments

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Donnicton, 1 Dec 2011 @ 8:05pm

Somewhere out there an MPAA exec's brain artery has just exploded like the Death Star.
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Anonymous Coward, 1 Dec 2011 @ 8:12pm

Re:
"That isn't a Moon, it is an Ass"

Sorry for the harsh language, it isn't funny without it.
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out_of_the_blue, 1 Dec 2011 @ 8:42pm

Rush Limbaugh gets tens of millions from 90 year old tech!
Not that I'm a fan of Limbaugh. Point is, for all your panting anticipation, it's CONTENT that draws. So, like cable news shows that claim to be on the cutting edge and important in shaping views, in fact, Rush Limbaugh has far larger audiences on primitive AM radio. So long as "new" music keeps heading toward Teletubbies levels, the draw isn't big. That's somewhat endemic, as Nicki Minaj, Miley Cyrus, and Justin Bieber prove. -- Unless you're a fourteen year old girl, then it's your era!

Also, from what I've seen of turntable.fm -- took two seconds before I said "Do not want." -- it's a lot of work! Sure, you kids have the notion that "entertainment" is interactive, but fiddling with a toy all day actually appeals to few. Who are doing nothing else. Most people just want some noise without too many advertisements (that's why SCA FM was developed for businesses).
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Larry, 1 Dec 2011 @ 9:23pm

Re: Rush Limbaugh gets tens of millions from 90 year old tech!
SCA FM = elevator music. Jeez, you like 80 years old? I can't believe you are that old and don't know where you have to be to LIVE on AM radio. Rush Limbaugh...jeez.
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Anonymous Coward, 1 Dec 2011 @ 9:27pm

Re: Rush Limbaugh gets tens of millions from 90 year old tech!
Not entirely agree with you.

Content quality is important, but I've seen things like creative user comments making otherwise boring recordings rocks.

And look at those MUDs, the carefully selected scenes and/or user made short movies certainly add value to the music. Sometimes when I close my eyes when hearing those music, I can still remember the scenes from the MUDs.

For those who got fans with crazy skillz, technologies enables them with infinate possibilities certainly counts.
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Anonymous Coward, 1 Dec 2011 @ 9:44pm

what's a spotify?
- Canada
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Ilfar, 1 Dec 2011 @ 9:50pm

WTF MUD TLA LOL
Your comment is somewhat undermined by the fact you don't, at any point, actually spell out what a MUD is. I haven't played on a Multi User Dungeon in years...
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Anonymous Coward, 1 Dec 2011 @ 10:28pm

Spotify probably will die, copyrights will make sure of it.

The thing is, nobody who works can earn anything except "content owners" which are leeches of the system.

Anyone should just be able to "buy" a CD anywhere and build a service without having to pay the parasites called "content owners", unfortunately that is not how the laws are today.

And that is a problem to platforms everywhere, the parasites will come calling and keep draining resources more and more until everything dies.
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Anonymous Coward, 1 Dec 2011 @ 10:31pm

Re: WTF MUD TLA LOL
I don't know, it that MAD? I can't remember how they call them.

I'm refering to those videos there people made scenescut or static image of particular theme to certain music (usually Japanese animes that I saw)
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Atkray (profile), 1 Dec 2011 @ 10:40pm

Re: Rush Limbaugh gets tens of millions from 90 year old tech!
You need AM radio, it is the only signal that tinfoil hats can pick up. ;)
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Anonymous Coward, 1 Dec 2011 @ 10:50pm

Re: Re: WTF MUD TLA LOL
You mean anime music videos? Dunno what else you could be talking about...
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Anonymous Coward, 1 Dec 2011 @ 11:00pm

Re: Rush Limbaugh gets tens of millions from 90 year old tech!
"...fiddling with a toy all day actually appeals to few."

Mind officially boggled....
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Anonymous Coward, 1 Dec 2011 @ 11:02pm

Re: Rush Limbaugh gets tens of millions from 90 year old tech!
So. Like.
http://tech.slashdot.org/story/11/12/01/237221/tv-ownership-declines-for-second-time-since-1970?ut m_source=feedburnerGoogle+Feedfetcher&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Slashdot%2Fslashd ot+%28Slashdot%29&utm_content=Google+Feedfetcher

Where do people consume this content, if TV ownership is going down?
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PaulT (profile), 1 Dec 2011 @ 11:20pm

Re: Rush Limbaugh gets tens of millions from 90 year old tech!
"So long as "new" music keeps heading toward Teletubbies levels, the draw isn't big. That's somewhat endemic, as Nicki Minaj, Miley Cyrus, and Justin Bieber prove."

Wait... isn't this the music you constantly argue to protect by keeping the status quo? By locking out new players, don't you realise that this lowest denominator crap is what the majors produce?

Why do you constantly defend the morons in the RIAA if you don't even like the content they produce?

"Also, from what I've seen of turntable.fm -- took two seconds before I said "Do not want.""

Awesome, you don't like it. I do, but assholes in your beloved industry won't allow me to use it.

If only there were a happy medium where both of us had the freedom to choose what we wanted to do instead of bowing to some clueless executive's whims... Maybe some international network of computers where we could access any service we required, where we could each access our preferred content in our preferred method if restrictions weren't being artificially enforced...
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Anonymous Coward, 1 Dec 2011 @ 11:23pm

What is the vox populi for platform?
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PaulT (profile), 1 Dec 2011 @ 11:24pm

Re:
Don't worry, unlike most of the other content providers, Spotify seem to be doing a very good job of actually getting licences approved for other regions, with 2 new countries launched this week. Given that, and that it took until this year to get the US on board, I doubt that Canada is far behind.
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tom, 1 Dec 2011 @ 11:51pm

i pay for all my content
i pay for spotify but iwonder whether i am paying for my music twice. i pay for my BBC licence which gives free tv and radio. Sony argued in the Betamax case (when it was still a Tech company not a Big Media company like now) that it was Fair Use to record and Time Shift. As the BBC will or has played all music and films which i can make a copy of, it should be ok for me to get my copy however i can. Is my BBC licence a licence to copy?
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Karl (profile), 2 Dec 2011 @ 12:09am

Re: Rush Limbaugh gets tens of millions from 90 year old tech!
Not that I'm a fan of Limbaugh.

Well then, since nobody here brought him up (which is understandable - he's terrible), you should probably explain why his name is even mentioned in this blog at all.

And, by the way, he is not just an "AM radio" host. His show is owned and distributed by Clear Channel, which was able to buy up radio stations, by law, because then-FCC-chairman (and current Republican advocate) Michael Powell claimed that without such monopoly ownership, free radio and TV would not be able to hold out against cable media.

Such claims were leveled int the mid-1990's, before the Internet ever entered the picture. According to pretty much everyone, the laws had exactly the opposite effect that was "intended" - terrestrial radio was monopolized, and still died when digital radio entered the picture. (You'd think current media companies would learn from this government-endorsed fiasco, but apparently not.)

Clear Channel is still Limbaugh's distributor, and is not merely (or even mostly) relegated to "AM radio." He was always supported by ABC, and furthermore Clear Channel is the "owner" of Fox News Radio, and many stations on XM Radio. All of which approve of SOPA.

Point is, for all your panting anticipation, it's CONTENT that draws.

Fair enough, but most of the people who actually provide the content we like, are against SOPA and PROTECT IP. (Here's a hint about that: Mike is a content producer. Everyone, including you, comes here more than they view NetFlix streams of the latest Hollywood money sink.)

Nicki Minaj, Miley Cyrus, and Justin Bieber

...who are not negatively affected by piracy (of the type this bill is targeting). Witness Bieber's reaction to PROTECT IP.

"Do not want." -- it's a lot of work!

Glad that you admit that the sole reason you don't make any money is because "it's a lot of work." Bully for you. Go for it, and God bless.

Unfortunately for you, if you do this, you don't really have a leg to stand on, economically speaking. Adapting to new business models is "a lot of work"? Don't adapt. And fail. You have my blessing.

Just don't blame anyone but yourself for your own failure.
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Karl (profile), 2 Dec 2011 @ 12:34am

Re: Re: Rush Limbaugh gets tens of millions from 90 year old tech!
If only there were a happy medium where both of us had the freedom to choose what we wanted to do instead of bowing to some clueless executive's whims... Maybe some international network of computers where we could access any service we required, where we could each access our preferred content in our preferred method if restrictions weren't being artificially enforced...

Nah.
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PaulT (profile), 2 Dec 2011 @ 12:56am

Re: Re: Re: Rush Limbaugh gets tens of millions from 90 year old tech!
Lol.... Case in point:

"Sorry, currently our video library can only be watched from within the United States"
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Anonymous Coward, 2 Dec 2011 @ 4:37am

Re: Re: Re: Re: Rush Limbaugh gets tens of millions from 90 year old tech!
Use any American based proxy with RTMPDump(it has the ability to capture the RTMPEK/b> stream) and you are gold.
If you want an easier way that I don't know if it still works here.

http://www.livingonlines.com/2010/08/simplest-way-to-watch-hulu-outside-us.html

Modifyin g the HTTP header I suggest the HREFControl for it instead of the one he used though.
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Anonymous Coward, 2 Dec 2011 @ 4:47am

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Rush Limbaugh gets tens of millions from 90 year old tech!
Oops!

RTMPDump has the ability to capture the RTMPE stream and show you how the URL is constructed but it does involve setting up a virtual machine and using the rtmpsrv(a proxy server that will seat in the middle of the session so you can capture the strings needed).
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Chronno S. Trigger (profile), 2 Dec 2011 @ 5:50am

Re: Re: WTF MUD TLA LOL
The only MUD I know of is the old text based games we played using Telnet.
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Josef Anvil (profile), 2 Dec 2011 @ 6:34am

I knew it all along
"You have to be where the killer apps are or you're going to get left behind."

Just like VHS and DVDs, the artists and labels will happily join in with anything that makes them more money, even if they hated it at the onset. We will be hearing a chorus of "I knew it would work all along."
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Karl (profile), 2 Dec 2011 @ 6:45am

Re: Re: Re: Re: Rush Limbaugh gets tens of millions from 90 year old tech!
Hah, yeah, a little ironic...

In case you couldn't tell by the URL, it was a link to the "Theodoric of York" sketch from SNL. Here's a Google video search, you might be able to find it somewhere that doesn't have regional restrictions.
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Anonymous Coward, 2 Dec 2011 @ 6:50am

Re: Rush Limbaugh gets tens of millions from 90 year old tech!
"...but fiddling with a toy all day actually appeals to few"

Given the number of iPhones and Androids in circulation, I'd say that you are wrong.
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nasch (profile), 2 Dec 2011 @ 8:48am

Spotify as a platform will hopefully make it easier for those killer apps to happen.

Spotify as a platform will hopefully make it easier for those killer apps to get sued into the ground.

Tell me why I'm wrong. Somebody, please....
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PaulT (profile), 2 Dec 2011 @ 9:15am

Re:
"Tell me why I'm wrong. Somebody, please...."

Spotify is a 100% legal platform, so all the music is licensed. As long as the apps abide by the terms specified by Spotify, and those are in sync with the terms issued to Spotify when they licensed the music, why would they be sued?

There's a chance they will of course, but in theory they should be fine so long as the license terms are abided by. Then again, that's trusting that the RIAA actually use sense and address the correct targets instead of suing whoever looks at them funny.
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nasch (profile), 2 Dec 2011 @ 9:38am

Re: Re:
why would they be sued?

HAHAHAHAHAH!!! HAHAHAHAHAHHA!! HAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!

OK, well you've reassured me somewhat. I still wonder if we'll see threats of lawsuits because of companies "taking advantage of loopholes" in the license terms. As though they didn't have enormous teams of lawyers crafting the license terms. Anyway, I guess we'll just have to wait and see. My real fear is that someone will decide not to pursue something that might be seen as pushing the envelope for fear of running into legal issues.
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Anonymous Coward, 2 Dec 2011 @ 10:56am

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Rush Limbaugh gets tens of millions from 90 year old tech!
well, tried the links there and all of them only embed the hulu player, so no dice
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Anonymous Coward, 2 Dec 2011 @ 10:58am

Re:
The pirate bay?
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Anonymous Coward, 2 Dec 2011 @ 7:37pm

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Rush Limbaugh gets tens of millions from 90 year old tech!
Try the video section of baidu.com

http://video.baidu.com/v?word=snl&ct=301989888&rn=20&pn=0&db=0&s=0&fbl=8 00
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Anonymous Coward, 5 Dec 2011 @ 12:53pm

Re:
So you're saying artists SHOULDN'T expect any sort of percentage from the sales of THEIR product? I thought you guys here were actually FOR artists making more money.
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