[Brandon.amos]

I feel like everyone always trying to make the most from consumers is terrible. I like that they have free services, and subscriptions. I occasionally use Spotify and other things, but not enough to warrant a subscription. If that means I get ads, then I'm ok with that. But to force us to have to have a subscription for everything, is a bad idea. It will totally lead to more YouTube and piracy. If you have to have a subscription for everything in life, you will go bankrupt. Not everyone has the funds to have subscriptions for a hundred different things, all wanting $10+ dollars for the service. At least not people who make less than several hundred thousand dollars a year or more. Then again, people who make that money probably don't have time for that, and will not subscribe due to it costing more money. You don't just get money saved up by spending it all.

[unison999]

Labels asking Spotify to get rid of free service around the time Apple going to reintroduce streaming service...

Free Spotify labels is still getting their money from ads, money is money, no reason to force someone to get rid of free service when ads is paying for it unless another big company pressure them.
I will keep my premium with Spotify to support them, but as soon as they get rid of free service to other people I will cancel my premium account.

[ATAYA]

There are other means n apps to listen to free music

[Brandon.amos]

Labels asking Spotify to get rid of free service around the time Apple going to reintroduce streaming service...

Free Spotify labels is still getting their money from ads, money is money, no reason to force someone to get rid of free service when ads is paying for it unless another big company pressure them.
I will keep my premium with Spotify to support them, but as soon as they get rid of free service to other people I will cancel my premium account.

On another note, when you take out the free parts, and only have subscriptions, whose to say said subscription plans won't go up in price?

[Nuff Said]

If they add movies like Hulu and Netflix then maybe it might be worth the upgrade but just for music I can easily dl? Nahh

[XweAponX]

Labels asking Spotify to get rid of free service around the time Apple going to reintroduce streaming service...

Free Spotify labels is still getting their money from ads, money is money, no reason to force someone to get rid of free service when ads is paying for it unless another big company pressure them.
I will keep my premium with Spotify to support them, but as soon as they get rid of free service to other people I will cancel my premium account.

It's the RIAA once again trying to get more money out of the music industry while doing absolutely nothing. Spotify is just trying to provide a decent free service for people who can't afford it, whereas the RIAA wants to nickel and dime everybody for every freaking stream of the same song. It's not enough that we paid $16-$20 for the CDs, now we have to pay to listen for things that we have already purchased.

[oldskoolsk8r]

H e l l no!

[hogcia]

I'll just make a new account every 3 months. Done!

[MoonFighter]

I would just keep using Pandora and carry on

[swifty7]

we all know that all this is a **** move from Apple as they promised to do so. ******* Apple!!!! their greed has no boundaries. First to go down was Grooveshark and now this. Free Spotify was the one thing that kept pirates from downloading in droves. I guess it's back to the seven seas for them.

[bigboyz]

Yikes! I've always felt that capitalism is the end to freedom in a sense. This article is a perfect example. Being forced to do what the status quo is doing, just to make a profit..that is wrong in my opinion. Sounds like a Coo.

[Sage I]

I would just keep using Pandora and carry on

Seriously... I never hear or see any complaints about Pandora offering free listening... I use Pandora almost daily for years now, never paid for Pandora one either (Pandora Downloader [emoji12]) I spend at least $100 a month buying Cd's from Amazon and digital music on itunes and that's on a slow month, often times I spend more like 200 a month on music... I don't download music for free unless it's something random and obscure that isn't available on cd or via digital download, maybe a dozen times ever... So I'm not opposed to paying for music by any means and strongly encourage more people to support musicians and actually buy some music like the days of old... I've never used Spotify and when my girlfriend first explained to me how it works I was blown away, still never used it, if I do it won't be the paid version though... Keep free use and paid subscriptions I say.

[MoonFighter]

Seriously... I never hear or see any complaints about Pandora offering free listening... I use Pandora almost daily for years now, never paid for Pandora one either (Pandora Downloader [emoji12]) I spend at least $100 a month buying Cd's from Amazon and digital music on itunes and that's on a slow month, often times I spend more like 200 a month on music... I don't download music for free unless it's something random and obscure that isn't available on cd or via digital download, maybe a dozen times ever... So I'm not opposed to paying for music by any means and strongly encourage more people to support musicians and actually buy some music like the days of old... I've never used Spotify and when my girlfriend first explained to me how it works I was blown away, still never used it, if I do it won't be the paid version though... Keep free use and paid subscriptions I say.

Part of what "protects" Pandora is the fact that it behaves a lot like radio (it's in the title after all). You can't pick specific songs or set a play order. I've always been surprised that spotify offered that for free subscribers.

[Sage I]

12 years ago or so I had a great conversation with Kirk Hammett, the lead guitar player of Metallica about the future of music and technology... It was around the time that his band mate Lars Ulrich was at the forefront of a battle against Napster... Kirk was on the fence on Napster because on one hand he said for a band like Metallica it didn't matter to him if people downloaded and shared their music for free, he said they are making plenty of money and have been for a long time now... Kirk did feel that for upcoming, unsigned and independent label artists that the digital age of free music downloads was going to hurt future musicians ability to make a living from their craft...

[MoonFighter]

12 years ag or so I had a great conversation with Kirk Hammett, the lead guitar player of Metallica about the future of music and technology... It was around the time that his band mate Lars Ulrich was at the forefront of a battle against Napster... Kirk was on the fence on Napster because on one hand he said for a band like Metallica it didn't matter to him if people downloaded and shared their music for free, he said they are making plenty of money and have been for a long time now... Kirk did feel that for upcoming, unsigned and independent label artists that the digital age of free music downloads was going to hurt future musicians ability to make a living from their craft...

In the end, a lot of independent artists have used free downloads and YouTube videos as a way to get their music out there to be heard by the masses.

[Sage I]

In the end, a lot of independent artists have used free downloads and YouTube videos as a way to get their music out there to be heard by the masses.

Exactly. Underground hip hop group Living Legends and many of their members used to encourage people to upload, download, burn cds and share their music for free, it would pay off for them in the long run as it exposed them to so many more listeners... The various MC's from Living Legends have been able to tour nonstop for almost two decades now and only one of them ever signed with a major label, they make a living on shows, selling product at their shows and some cd and digital sales too. When I moved to Hawaii in 2001 I was amazed at how many friends I made that listened to hip hop and had every cd from every member of Living Legends, almost every disc I ever saw in someone's book of underground hip hop Cd's was a burned copy... Smart marketing on the part of independent artists who were at the forefront of the digital music revolution and encouraged free sharing.