this post was submitted on 21 Jul 2023
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According to the report, Spotify will raise its standard subscription rate by $1 next week, bringing the monthly cost from $9.99 to $10.99.

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[–] Lanthanae@lemmy.blahaj.zone 55 points 2 years ago (2 children)

I'm all for bashing corporations, but y'all, this is a $1 increase for the first time in years. Not only is that reasonable, If anything, the rate of inflation is such that this is still effectively cheaper than it has been just a couple years ago.

[–] scrubbles@poptalk.scrubbles.tech 17 points 2 years ago

Idk I said the same about Netflix years ago

[–] ArcticCircleSystem@beehaw.org 1 points 2 years ago

Does the calculation showing that it's cheaper when accounting for inflation also account for wage stagnation? ~Strawberry

[–] LinkOpensChest_wav@beehaw.org 31 points 2 years ago (7 children)

Oh good I get to pay a dollar more every month to have unremovable ads for podcasts shoved in my face

[–] garrett@infosec.pub 9 points 2 years ago (1 children)

You just gotta stop listening to podcasts in Spotify. They’re hands down the worst listening experience for them.

[–] LinkOpensChest_wav@beehaw.org 3 points 2 years ago

You might want to re-read my comment. The operative term there is "for."

Ads for podcasts, not in podcasts

I don't listen to podcasts, and if I did, I certainly wouldn't listen to any with sponsorships or other ads

[–] EveningPancakes@lemm.ee 8 points 2 years ago (1 children)

If the ads are baked in, just hit the 15s jump button a couple of times until you get back into the podcast. The ones I listen to usually play music during the ads, so when I hear the music is over I know I'm back in the podcast.

[–] LinkOpensChest_wav@beehaw.org 9 points 2 years ago (1 children)

This is a completely different topic than what I'm talking about in my comment. I'm referring to the ads for podcasts that appear on the homescreen and can't be blocked disabled.

I don't listen to podcasts, and if I did I'd simply not listen to those with ads, including sponsorships. Regardless, I thought the whole point of podcasts is you can listen to them hands-free, so your skipping forward solution doesn't seem very practical.

[–] EveningPancakes@lemm.ee 3 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Sorry, didn't realize you were referring to promos that Spotify runs for their content. Yeah I guess they don't have a way to turn that off, but it's a simple button to get past.

Also, fast forwarding really is not a big deal. While I'm out walking my dog and kiddo I just tap my ear buds twice and it fast forwards 15 seconds past the baked in ads in the podcast.

[–] LinkOpensChest_wav@beehaw.org 4 points 2 years ago

Oh god, I hate gesture-based earbuds. I painted over mine with clear nail polish because I've never once had them respond in such a way that I find helpful. Someone will invariably start yakking at me, then I have to remove an earbud, and they'll skip tracks, power down, or do all kinds of crazy shit.

Regardless, it actually is a big deal to me that I'm having unwanted ads shoved in my face the moment I launch the app. That is not acceptable, and it's disturbing that you seem to think it's normal. I pay their supposedly "ad-free" plan to get ads? Fuck that.

[–] oshitwaddup@lemmy.antemeridiem.xyz 6 points 2 years ago (2 children)

Pretty sure the only ads on spotify podcasts are the ones built in to the podcast recording, like the audio file includes the ads

At least i never get any ads from spotify listening to podcasts, unless the people doing the podcast have ads

[–] LinkOpensChest_wav@beehaw.org 9 points 2 years ago (10 children)

I don't listen to podcasts, although you are correct that many podcasters are paid to promote products, which is itself a form of advertising.

I'm talking about the shelf that appears on my homescreen that is used to promote podcasts, which is also a form of advertising , aka an ad

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[–] Pietson@beehaw.org 2 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

afaik, podcasts can choose to have ads (I don't mean sponsorships) enabled. most podcasts I listen to have sponsorships, but for example the lateral podcast from tom scott actually has 'real' ads in it, even with premium.

[–] gkpy@feddit.de 3 points 2 years ago (1 children)

couldn't agree with you more. it can't be that hard to give us an opt-out of podcasts altogether. there's been an item for that on their feature request forum for as long as podcasts in spotify are a thing

they just don't want to

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[–] idle@158436977.xyz 11 points 2 years ago (2 children)

Pretty much inevitable I've been amazed they went this long. $10 just does not seem sustainable.

[–] uberrice@feddit.de 6 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Im fairly sure they manage because they have so many subscriptions from people that barely use it.

They basically pay out per song played - and server costs are also largely dependent on active users. So they balance out a very active person that might incur 15$ in cost with 5 inactive people that incur not even a dollar.

[–] bamboo@lemm.ee 2 points 2 years ago

Then there are people like me who do use Spotify a lot, but I'm mostly listening to the same stuff most of the time. Unless I'm trying to find new things or listen to a podcast, it's most likely all cached on my device.

[–] Frederic@beehaw.org 3 points 2 years ago (3 children)

Well, they pay artists 0.03¢ every 1000 play or something...

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[–] awwsom@beehaw.org 9 points 2 years ago (6 children)

the reason i used spotify was their reccomendation system and now it is the worst of any other platform. Even if they make it free I won't use it ever again. I don't want to listen to Unholy after every fucking song.

[–] snowe@programming.dev 3 points 2 years ago (5 children)

Wow I completely disagree. Are you actually liking and disliking songs? And AI DJ is fantastic. I just recently learned about it and have been loving it. I use Apple Music some, but it’s for curation, not recommendation.

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[–] Mustafaalbazy@programming.dev 3 points 2 years ago

Same, i used to sub with Spotify, in the last 2 years i've been on Apple music, they even have better collection and playlists of non-english music. Spotify is full of rap music and so hard to discover anything else unless you know what you are searching for.

[–] ozoned@beehaw.org 3 points 2 years ago

Pandora has amazing stations that randomize like music. I've found lots of new artists this way and love it.

[–] Auzy@beehaw.org 2 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (2 children)

You mean it repeats a lot of stuff? Thats what I found :( A lot of the liked music lists it generated just seems to be stuff I already liked ages ago

I'm trialing Apple Music, but, only thing is it doesn't let you download all of your liked songs on your phone it seems

[–] doona@aussie.zone 2 points 2 years ago (2 children)

What I ended up doing was making a smart playlist on desktop, that contains all of the songs in your library. Then it’s a single button tap to download everything.

[–] Auzy@beehaw.org 3 points 2 years ago

Just tested it. Seems to be downloading. Thanks

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[–] jcarax@beehaw.org 1 points 2 years ago (2 children)

I'm sure it did on my iPhone, I relied on it to play music in the car since I don't have cell coverage for the most part. I'm not sure about the Android app, and my subscription is lapsed now so I can't check.

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[–] Veedems@lemmy.ml 8 points 2 years ago

They were the last to do this. Can’t even be mad about it.

[–] cupcakezealot@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 points 2 years ago (6 children)

I've started using Youtube Premium more since I get music, podcasts, and ad-free Youtube for 5 people. Much better deal. :)

[–] Chozo@kbin.social 5 points 2 years ago (2 children)

I just wish YouTube Music would get better integration with more services. I really enjoy being able to seamlessly play Spotify on my PS5 while I'm playing games, and listening along with friends on Discord is also way easier on Spotify. If YouTube Music could get similar integrations, I'd probably drop Spotify, since I'm already paying for YouTube Premium as it is.

[–] elauso@feddit.de 4 points 2 years ago (2 children)

I subscribed to YouTube Premium a few days ago, after being a long-time Spotify subscriber. It really does seem like a viable alternative.... except for the lack of something like Spotify connect. I can't even control the playback on my computer or TV from my phone. It's like every YouTube Music device is on their own, knowing nothing about the others. With Spotify I could seamlessly continue the playback of the song I was listening to in my car on my phone and later on the smart speaker in my apartment.

[–] stealth_cookies@lemmy.ca 3 points 2 years ago

I've tried out YouTube Premium a few weeks ago with the intention of replacing Spotify, but it just doesn't do the job. I have a use case where I have one computer playing music, but I want to control it with another computer. I've yet to find another service that does what I need other than Spotify.

[–] Chozo@kbin.social 2 points 2 years ago

Yup, that's another feature I get extensive use out of, too. I'll sometimes queue up some music from my phone to play on my Nest speakers, and switch tracks from my watch. It's just not as seamless of a process on YTM as it is on Spotify, unfortunately. Which is a shame, because Google could really be a serious contender in the music streaming space if they just invested a bit into the product.

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[–] MangoPenguin@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 2 years ago

That does seem like a better deal at this point.

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