Will Spotify fold? The day ITunes has a streaming service, Spotify is over but what about before then? The noise out of Europe at least since January when Spotify closed up its download option has been scary and negative. Artists don't make money and still Spotify pays too much in artists royalties. Indies below a certain size have no interest. And what should have been the most popular site on earth is struggling non stop.
The problem with Spotify is that they are preaching to the converted. When I attempted to pick up the advertising biz in the US, my suggestion was:
1. They reach out to an older demo (adults 50 plus) and
2. They dumb down their message to ITUNES For Free.
But they thought their future was in apps. I don't see why. What they have is a humongous catalog Why don't they get a 50+ mailing list and email a Hits of the 1940s, 100s of them, playlist, for free. Just sign up. Wouldn't that get some attention. Instead they further alienated a good chunk of their market by tying subscribing to Facebook. Why would they do that? Couldn't they have just left it as an option?
Spotify's problem is they can't keep track of what they wanna be. Essentially, what they are is for a flat fee listen to everything you want whenever and wherever you want to. What's so hard in selling the concept. The problem is all the big meets with app providers, as though there wasn't a simpler way to organize. At least to start with.
So anyway, they are losing money and subscribers so what happens if Spotify folds?
1. It is a subscription service and you lose all your playlists.
2. You will have to do a lot of buying.
3. But you will always have saved money on a coupla 100,000 crappy tracks you won't buy.
And the industry regroups.
Really, the unanswered question is does streaming hurt the bottom line and I can't see it does. I am not, but many people I speak to stream and buy if they like the music. And even if it does hurt the industry, content "wants to be free" and you will have a hard time getting a model that isn't free.