Why I Love & Hate Spotify

Well mostly love... Anyways I also use Pandora pretty heavily since both that and Spotify go through my TVs and Stereos in the living room and the bedroom, very convenient. I have a Michael Schenker "station" on Pandora which is great, lots of Shenker, Gary Hoey, Eric Johnson, Satch etc, and a Schenker song "illusion" from the Arachophopiac album comes on and its great, I love it. I have never heard that album, or the singer for that matter, so I of course just shift to Spotify to check out the whole album. I search Spotify for Schenker, and they have tons of stuff of his,or that he played on etc, but nothing new except remasters of older stuff. Aghhhh. So I go to allmusic.com to figure it out

So why? Because since 1999 there have been 31 Michael Schenker Albums releases between, new, live and compilations. Those albums have been released on either his own label, or the following 18 labels: Griffin, Shrapnel, Event Records, MVP Records, Phantom Imports, Steamhammer, Steam, Crown, Pony Canyon Records, Majestic Rock, Cadiz, Armegeddon Entertainment, Mascott Music, Shwartz Music, Mischief, Metal Mind Productions, IMV Blueline, and now on In-AKustik. And none of those 19 Labels including his own have a deal with Spotify. That sucks. Especialy that they cant make a deal with Shrapnel which has a ton of fucking great albums and musicians.

So, no Schenker for me on Spotify on anything since 92', which sucks royaly. Fuckit, I still want some Schenker, so I chose the 2009 Remaster of "One Night At Budakon" from  82' with Gary Barden on vocals, which sounds great remastered, and all seems well in the world again as soon as Armed and Ready comes on as the opening tune. Yah, still love Spotify.

The real question:

If Pandora can make a deal with Shrapnel and I get those songs in my station mix, why the FUCK can't spotify make a deal with them. Are so many people running out to buy early 2000s CDs on that label that Shrapnel thinks if they play a few songs on Pandora that people will run out and buy the CDs, so they wont just take the damn Spotify money? Are hoardes of long haired metal heads taking their hard earned cash every week to the CD shop to pick up 10 year old stuff from Vinnie Moore, Tony MacAlpine, Paul Gilbert, Greg Howe, Richie Kotzen, Marty Friedman, George Lynch, Michael Schenker etc, to the level that Mike Varney doesn't care for the online money? I don't get it. Piss me off but fuckit, I have Attack of the Mad Axeman cranking now and all is good.

Would I really use Spotify?

Since starting to use Spotify, I have listened to more new music and stuff that I am not familiar with than ever before. While I would never buy a CD or a download of a musician I am not familiar with, Spotify allows me to check out anything I have heard of, has been recommended by a someone, or has charted. Without a commitment, I can "test drive" a band or album, and if I don't enjoy it, simply shut it off. No loss at all. With this method I have checked our more bands and experienced music outside the realm of my normal listening that I had ever thought I would. The combination of Pandora and Spotify is brilliant. Here a song on Pandora that sounds pretty good, and the move over to Spotify and check out more from the band. A very nice symbiotic relationship.

Spotify has 3 different models, one free (Spotify Free) and two that area paid services (Spotify Unlimited and Spotify Premium) the unlimited option is $4.99 a month, while the Premium version is $9.99 an month. The Unlimited is similar to the free but without ads. the Premium is a big step up with Unlimited music without ads, A mobile client for your phone, offline mode when you don't haev an internet connection, and enhanced sound quality at 320 kbps. I am using the Premium and find it well worth the $9.99 a month.

You can get more details on each option at http://www.spotify.com/us/get-spotify/premium/