Spotify: Music's Final Frontier?

Zach Wolfe
Zeta Beta Tau

In this increasingly digital landscape, I've found that measuring the technological staying power of "the next big thing" can often come down to one thing: what my father, the ultimate cynic of change, has to say.

Over the years as I've introduced the virtues of things like text messaging, iPhones, Facebook and Twitter to my dad, I've realized that the more he initially dissents and the more doubt he conveys, the more likely it is for the technological advance in question to achieve long-term success.

This past winter break, the technological advance in question was Spotify; the music streaming service you've all at least heard about that seeks to become the singular middle-man between record labels and the music consumer by paying royalties to artists and labels in exchange for the consumer’s unlimited access (any device, any time) to millions of songs for a minimal monthly subscription.

After years of accumulating my favorite music through Limewire and torrents and on iTunes and sites like HypeMachine and Grooveshark, I realized upon first exploration of the Spotify client that all the time I’d spent downloading and organizing music had simply gone to waste. Here it all was, all the music I had ever listened to, streaming upon request as if the iTunes Store had suddenly capitulated their entire library to us music snobs. And equally important to me was Spotify’s fleshed-out integration with Facebook that immediately gave music sharing a functioning social network platform to operate upon. Within days, I wanted Spotify everywhere I went and on all devices I owned. I upgraded from the free service to Spotify’s premium, $10 per month subscription that offers enhanced sound quality, offline access to subscribed playlists and the ability to take Spotify anywhere in the world with the fully functional iPhone app.

A week or so later, as I pitched Spotify to my father on the drive out to a golf course, I was fully braced for his usual “that will never work” shtick that had come after each time I introduced him to the next big idea of the Internet age. In offering an explanation of the service, I had him give me a few obscure bands and songs from decades past that he’d like to hear, and sure enough, from Toad the Wet Sprocket to Brahms’ “Symphony No. 3 in F Major,” Spotify successfully streamed them all.

In the past, it took my father months—or even years—to get on board with prior advances, be it text messaging or Facebook or what have you, but this time, he was immediately sold. Instead of his usual meddling, he thanked me and talked of how he needed to get all his “friends” on it with him. With his only gripe being that Spotify had yet to add the half-joke, punk rock band Third Space that he once drummed for during medical school, he was effectively sold.

Just as Spotify instantly captivated my dad, it’s made a considerable splash with much of the music-listening public. As of last month, more than 2.5 million people have subscribed to the premium service, and millions more are experimenting with the free service that is limited to desktop computers. Another positive indicator is its ubiquity among our younger, more trend-savvy demographic. In lieu of specific statistics, it’s noteworthy that nearly 40 percent (605 of 1,560) of my Facebook friends have at least parlayed their Facebook accounts into registered Spotify accounts since the service’s July 14 U.S. launch date.

In the music industry or otherwise, any trailblazing business model of this scale comes with considerable growing pains. Many small, independent record labels have reneged on allowing Spotify to stream their music after citing detriment to their own viability. Also, certain music, such as independently distributed mixtapes and underground recordings have yet to find their way into the Spotify database. And on rare occasion, when Wi-Fi and 3G signal are nowhere to be found, the stream dries up.

But there’s still plenty to like. The recent migration of millions to Spotify still stands alone as the single biggest story in the music world over the past year, and the seamless transition that Spotify offers has triggered unprecedented reactions from technology-averse people like my father. That universal appeal bodes well for Spotify’s future and gives substantial reason to think that $10 CDs and even $1.29 mp3s are already things of the past. Either get on board now, or risk suffering a similar fate. 

Zach is a sophomore studying economics. You may contact him at ZachWolfe24@gmail.com.