Kirk McElhearn writes about Macs, iPods, iTunes, books, music and more, as a Senior Contributor to Macworld. He is also a regular contributor to TidBITS, as well as several other web sites and magazines. He is co-host of The Next Track and The Committed podcast; and has written more than twenty books, including Take Control books about iTunes. While reading a recent post about streaming music I was compelled to respond. Kirk wrote :
Kirk McElhearn writes about Macs, iPods, iTunes, books, music and more, as a Senior Contributor to Macworld. He is also a regular contributor to TidBITS, as well as several other web sites and magazines. He is co-host of The Next Track and The Committed podcast; and has written more than twenty books, including Take Control books about iTunes. While reading a recent post about streaming music I was compelled to respond. Kirk wrote :
Spotify has announced that the streaming music service now has 100 million “monthly active users,” which means people who use the service at least once in a month. (Report from The Telegraph.) 30 million of these are paying users; the remainder use Spotify’s free, ad-supported version. However, the company also claimed 30 million paying users in March. So total users are increasing, but paying users are not. In addition, while revenue is increasing, so are net losses.
Spotify has announced that the streaming music service now has 100 million “monthly active users,” which means people who use the service at least once in a month. (Report from The Telegraph.) 30 million of these are paying users; the remainder use Spotify’s free, ad-supported version. However, the company also claimed 30 million paying users in March. So total users are increasing, but paying users are not. In addition, while revenue is increasing, so are net losses. 
What does that matter ? Well, Kirk ends up saying the bottom line :
I have a slightly different opinion, and as I’ve said it’s only my opinion — you can believe what you want. Here’s my letter to Kirk:
Dear Kirk,
I’m a bit old fashioned, and that’s why I am responding to your article. I refuse to support or use Spotify, and I don’t use Apple Music either.
Through two Presidential campaigns and thousands of Facebook and Twitter posts, everyone bitched and moaned about sending jobs over seas. Facebook was on fire with memes and vicious posts about the issue. Yet, those very same complainers think nothing of a Spotify account.
Consider $3,582,000,000.00. ($298,500,000.00 PER MONTH ) … how many jobs is $3.5-BILLION? Not that Apple deserves it — but rather the musicians deserve it most. I have maybe 400 or so songs and several radio stations I listen to most of the time. They all fit on my iPhone. Why send ten bucks to Europe every month to listen to the same songs?
We never hear anything about CD-Baby or any of the other channels that actually support the original talent — except me. I purchase the CDs and transfer the music to my devices. Several hundred CDs provide plenty of music for me — more than I can listen to.
Tell your readers if they use Spotify, then don’t complain about income inequality or sending jobs over seas. Next time you see someone posting or sharing anything about job outsourcing or the “other 98%” or any of that, just ask them if they have a Spotify account.
I am sure to get flamed on this … but I’m not saying my opinion is good for everyone. It’s just my opinion.
Kirk — Keep up the great work, I continue to quote you and link to you in our news service!
And I signed it, Fred!
I’d like to hear your comments on this topic.
Follow Kirk’s blog : 
Spotify vs. Apple Music: Round 3 Spotify’s New Privacy Policy Is Downright Invasive (But They’re Sorry) Dave Mark of The Loop, was asking what people think of Spotify.
Thanks for reading
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