With an inexplicable delay of several years, coinciding with the 63rd edition of the Sanremo Festival, the revolutionary Spotify program is finally available in Italy. While in our old country many users do not even know what it is, foreign Internet users cannot do without it now.
Su Age of Audio we have extensively described cloud computing services in the music field. However, an important note should be added: according to a statistical survey a few years ago, to listen to and share music, most users continue to use a medium that was absolutely not born for this purpose, also generating a series of unpleasant legal obstacles. concerning copyright. We are talking, of course, of Youtube. In many cases it is not the video clip that interests you, but rather the listening to the song it contains.
In 2008, a Swedish company has the brilliant (although apparently obvious) idea of making agreements with record companies and creating a sort of Youtube dedicated exclusively to listening: Spotify.
WHAT IS SPOTIFY?
Spotify is an application that allows free streaming of an incredible amount of songs. Search the search bar for what you like, from the brand new single from Jutty Ranx to the 30s rarities of Django Reinhardt e Bunches, passing through an audio documentary on Led Zeppelin or Chopin's 4 ballads, and you will be satisfied. To get Spotify for free, just download the app from www.spotify.com/en/ and have a profile Facebook (company with which Spotify is closely linked).
Graphically, the resemblance to iTunes. Just like in Apple's proprietary player, Spotify comes with a large central block containing the songs sought or recommended (complete with bio and info on the artists), while on the sides we have a social section that shows us what our friends are listening to, in addition to many extremely intuitive functions especially for those used to using iTunes, such as the possibility of creating playlists or listening to radio stations tailor-made for us, thanks to algorithms based on our previous searches.
TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE?
One wonders what the trick is. The "tricks" are different. First, each song has a button buy. As it should be, if we want to free ourselves from streaming, from the PC and from the limits that we will describe shortly, we have to pay. Nothing to object to in this regard. It seems like a century has passed, but when there was no internet or piracy and you were still buying albums in record stores, you could listen to them before you buy them and it was all legal! Spotify allows exactly this: listening before buying, the one and only way to fight piracy which is often simply dictated by the absurd behavior of record companies, greedily barricaded behind their positions and unable to open up to modernity. Spotify is also a priceless showcase. The free publicity that artists get out of it amply compensates for the "sacrifice" of granting free (controlled and supervised) listening.
THE CONS:
The first criticism I feel is that, once installed, Spotify recognized and added to the library the songs I had on the hard disk without asking for any authorization, a signal that, once again, the world of the cloud helps to always make more annoyingly real the Big Brother hypothesized by Orwell back in 1948.
The Spotify library, despite being very rich, has some "holes", some really unforgivable. The big excluded are the Beatles, who have an exclusive deal with the iTunes Store. Searching for them on Spotify, dozens of songs will pop up. All covers, unfortunately.
We could count among the cons the need to have a Facebook profile and to install software, but perhaps it is a fair price to pay for this service. There is also a wealth of literature regarding the fact that there is no fair split of pay between Spotify and artists and this would contribute to burying independent labels. Today, however, we enter the Spotify world exclusively as users.
We come to the painful notes. To stay alive, Spotify uses advertisements, both visual and audio. Furthermore, the unlimited version remains free only within 6 months of activation, just enough time to become totally dependent on it. After the trial period, we will only be granted 10 listening hours per month. However, we can carry out two upgrades. The profile Unlimited (€ 5 per month) gives access to unlimited listening, as well as eliminating unwanted advertising. For the most demanding and for those who want to use the app on their smartphone or tablet, there is an account Premium (10 € per month) which even allows offline listening, as well as a higher transmission speed.
CONCLUSIONS:
Spotify is just another confirmation of the absolute digitization of music. Soon we will see CDs disappear completely, replaced by cheaper and ecological digital versions. Cloud computing is completely disrupting the use of songs, bringing with it its essential advantages and disadvantages. It is useless to try to weigh them: whether we like it or not, progress is inevitable and we can do nothing but change and become listeners of the digital age.
