OFF: If you pirate music, you're downloading communism!

[Jonathan Jarrett]

On Wed, Mar 25, 2009 at 05:46:57PM +0000, Horse typed out:
> So what do you guys think of spotify?
> Lots of 'free' music available.

	I haven't tried it but it's making some poor friends of mine 
very happy. From my point of view the first question is how are they 
funded, and I see that it's advertising-based; I wonder how long that 
can survive. Second question is have they got the rights to broadcast, 
and it seems that they have, as witness their puff to prospective 
`partners':

"Promoting your music on Spotify is free. Your own artist area allows 
you to build a direct relationship with fans, old and new, across the 
world. Develop revenue streams through the sale of downloads, 
merchandising, concert tickets and more, as well as earning a share of 
the revenues we create through our advertising and premium businesses. 
Powerful, granular, in-depth reporting is available to participating 
labels and artists."

	At which rate the third question is the great Gmail one, do I 
really want my listening preferences sold as commercial data? Their 
privacy policy is even ropier than Google's:

http://www.spotify.com/en/legal/privacy-policy/

	Ah well. I have plenty to listen to old-style for the minute. 
Yours,
	Jon

-- 
"When fortune wanes, of what assistance are quantities of elephants?"
	    (Juvaini, Afghan Muslim chronicler, c. 1206)
 Jon Jarrett, Fitzwilliam Museum, jjarrett at chiark.greenend.org.uk