Spotify..."Winning!"

"1956, when the DJ broke to play us something new
Hearts broke, hearts skipped, and we knew that this made for me and you
When he told us he was lonely he was speaking from the heart
I was much to young to know but I knew it was a start

I was raised on the radio
Raised on the radio
Just an all-american boy
I found my favorite toy"

-Ravyns

Soooo…Terrestrial radio is dead.  You have NPR, Angry Talk Radio and Sports Radio.  Sure, there is still KSHE for classic rock and JOY (whatever) for Jesus Music and 4 country stations (which all suck) but other than Spotify (which should be discussed later) there is nothing for music lovers on Radio.  

“Radio is a sound salvation

Radio is cleaning up the nation

They say you better listen to the voice of reason

But they don't give you any choice

'cause they think that it's treason.

So you had better do as you are told.

You better listen to the radio.”-

-Elvis Costello

Maybe at one time.

Last Christmas I bucked up for Spotify.  $9.99 a month as part of my move to the future.  

Getting rid of CDs and freeing myself up from the tyranny and poor navigability of iTunes.  I had been on Spotify’s free service for several years and got used to it but the ads and the sometimes low quality of the stream (I think it is supposed to be same as the premium but that was not my experience) but I have to tell you that I am pretty much done with all my old sources of music.  The CD’s continue to move towards the used record store and I have not purchased anything from iTunes in a year.

Bob Lefsetz...the Sage of Santa Monica has been promoting Spotify for a long time, to the point of being accused of taking $$$ from them (which he denied).  He points out again and again that people keep trying to get into the streaming industry to compete seem to sputter.  I know some of you still use Pandora (a great Presidential Cantidate would just say “SAD”) and I have never met anyone who has used iTunes streaming service.  Here is a short list of some the services which are or have been in existence:

• Last.fm
• Amazon Music
• TuneIn Radio
• Radio.com
• Tidal
• Slacker
• Google
• IHeartRadio
• Spotify
• Rhapsody
• iTunes Radio

Here is a really good article comparing the value and usability and value of the current services.

https://www.cnet.com/how-to/best-music-streaming-service/

I do not know a great deal about any of them.  I am an Amazon Prime Member and I guess I should familiarize myself with the product which is cheaper but it would also require me messing with the family account and that is...above my pay grade.  I was an early adopter of Pandora and I enjoyed it but it just didnt have the freedom and function of Spotify.  

So what is so great.  Well, for one you have like 85% of all popular music ever released.  Maybe that is anover estimate but I dont think anyone really knows how much has been recorded.  I am an alt-country snob and am coming off of my own 1600 or so CD collection and another 500 albums and there is not much I cannot find in that library.  So… that is pretty awesome for a music head.  You want to listen to a little… I dont know...lets be pathetic… The Eagles...you search, they pop up along with their top 5 songs.  You can press shuffle and it starts with that and then goes through the others...as long as you want.  You can also scroll down and it comes up with the first few albums followed by an option to see all the artists albums. It is awesome.

Play that funky music white boy
Play that funky music right
Play that funky music white boy
Lay down the boogie and play that funky music till you die
Till you die, ya
Till you die
-Wild Cherry

They also have a plethora of curated playlists and you can axcess other users playlists and that can be overwhlming.  The best part is the magic algorithm  Pandora used it to populate your station but this sends you playlists that match up with your listening interests and… it is really good.  The BEST part is new or newsish and that is their “Realease Radar” which curates a new 20 song playlist every friday of recent releases.  After an album appears on your Release Radar you willget songs off that album if the algorithm and the lisyening public think that they are good and, it has got me listening to new music again on a consistent basis.  

For me it allows to listen to new music the algorithm finds for me and then move it to a playlist of my own for later accessing. I dump everything I like into a 2016 playlist and then slowly move the best stuff to a Best of 2016 and… it is pretty fine for my tastes and once again, it is new stuff.  It might be John Prine or Bob Weirs new stuff but it is still new and often it is bands I have never heard of.  It is all good.

Switching it over to AM
Searching for a truer sound
Can't recall the call letters
Steel guitar and settle down

The bad part… well there is no bad part other than you cannot get certain artists like Taylor Swift or Neil Young…  The new services like Amazon and Tidal are trying to be more attractive through artists and exlusives that you can only find on their services.  It makes me yawn.  It willall be everywhere sooner or later and with all the worlds music at my fingertips… do I need Taylor Swift and her Dr. Luke and Max Martin “collaberated” gems or would I prefer listening to Bonnie Raitt Billie Holiday?  I can wait for her greatness.  

An example of what you cant get:

http://time.com/4274430/spotify-albums/

Anyway, SPotify is winning.  There is likely to be two other survivors and they are likely going to be Amazon and iTunes because they have massive capital behind them and a huge base of users who will want one provider for everything.  I like Amazon for Books and historically Apple for technology (though they appear to be “waining”) and Spotify… The St. Louis Diner Review recoemnds Spotify for music.  For 120 bucks a year, if you are a junky it feels like it is free.