Spotify

I suppose there's really no need for a formal review of Spotify as there is a ton of information out there that I don't need to regurgitate. Ever since I was able to use the Europe-only version I've been clamoring for the day that I could register for a full-blown US version. When Spotify finally arrived on our shores I ditched my invite to the free version for the full-on paid Premium plan. Is Spotify worth all of the hype? I can say “Sure...more or less.”

Spotify addresses rather effectively the #1 problem I have had ever since I've had the desire to carry music around with me- you can't carry on your device everything that you have at home. This has been a problem from the days of the boombox all the way up to the iPhone 4. I remember when the first portable MP3 players came out and I was blown away that I could now carry 256 MB of music around with me! Storage capacity has exploded exponentially since those days but not to the point where my problem could ever be solved effectively. Enter Spotify. I've been blown away by the magnitude of music that's available on here. I've been able to stump it a few times (more on that later) but with a super-easy interface, I can scratch almost every musical itch in seconds with file quality that beats the pants off using YouTube as a radio. Spotify is like having the coolest jukebox in the universe at your beck and call no matter what device you're using.

The other thing I love about Spotifty is the social media capability. Some of my Facebook friends have incredible tastes in all kinds of music. Spotify allows me to hook into their playlists and see what they've curated and with the click of a button, those songs are now part of my collection. Also, if I want to turn someone on to a band, all I need to do is drag and drop a song to them so they can check it out. Sure beats burning and uploading MP3s. One thing that really excites me about Spotify is the potential to create a playlist of music I've recorded and uploaded via Tunecore, share it with my Spotify friends, and then see who might discover it via their playlists. It's a bit of a stretch but the capacity for viral growth definitely exists.

As for the “more or less” part. Frankly, I did not expect Spotify to address my dream list of a music service, at least not upon US launch. Here are the things that stick out for me. Most are minor and some are not within the control of Spotify:

I'd like to be able to stream from my Mac to my stereo

Other than paying $25 for something like AirFoil, there's no easy way to stream Spotify to remote speakers as I can do with iTunes and AirTunes. I'm sure this is more about Apple keeping their technology as closed as possible but I hope Spotify solves this one.

Once you stop paying, you lose your songs

You could spend a great deal of time developing your Spotify presence but once you decide to bow out, your music is lost forever. This has always been the issue with streaming subscription services.

I can't search by label

I asked Spotify about this on Twitter and will be happy to update this when I hear back from them. While most people could care less who's selling them Jay-Z or Justin Bieber, a lot of hardcore music fans keep track of record labels in the same way that sports fans track stats of their favorite teams. I would love to be able to see everything that Spotify carries by Matador, Yep Roc, Merge, etc. It's a great way to be turned onto music that I might like but don't know about yet based on the vibe of a particular label.

Not all of my favorite music is available on Spotify

I was able to find one song by Dead Moon, one of my favorite bands. In all fairness, the Itunes Store and Amazon MP3 don't carry much Dead Moon either. Not that I'm some high-falutin' music snob but I listen to a lot of music that is “left of the dial”. I'll still have to buy vinyl and download free (legal) MP3s that artists put out there.

I'd love to be able to search for playlists

Other streaming services like Mixcloud and 8Tracks allow you to search for playlists by genre and other keywords. Granted, these services are designed for that purpose. It would be so cool for me to be able to search for playlists from strangers who make their lists publicly available.

It's not discovery-based

This one hit me while I was flipping through vinyl in a neighborhood record store to escape the NYC heat. Spotify, like iTunes, seems to be designed for those who know what they want. You enter the name of an artist or song, and you're presented with your results (if your selection is available). If there was a way to be presented with suggestions based on what I've already selected and/or starred, you would always have something new to explore. While I was at the record store flipping through the racks, I was struck by how digital music has, by design, rid itself of the curation and discovery that has traditionally taken place in the neighborhood record store. Some services like eMusic have done a great job of sifting through an immense catalog to present you with bands you've never heard of but who might be the favorite band you haven't heard of yet. With Spotify, you're brought to the front door and left to your own devices. It can be overwhelming. Over time, what happens once you've found everything you can think of? Netflix does this very well and hopefully Spotify will follow suit.

[UPDATE: I've since found the Related Artists area of the interface.  D'oh!  Also, I've been checking out Spotibot.  While not an official Spotify site, it's still a very cool way to discover music.]

**

With all of that said, I'm very stoked that Spotify has arrived and would recommend it to anyone who is even a casual music fan. It will be very interesting to see how Spotify develops and where it will take the music industry. It's an exciting time for technology and for the biz. The game has officially changed.

Gigantic

There's been lots of talk on the cyberwaves in recent days about online music. The Spotify launch is certainly at the forefront of all of that. I've used it when it was Europe-only and plan to go all-in on the Premium plan when I have some time. For a long time, I've said that the drawback to smartphones and other portable devices is that you can't fit as much as you would like onto your hardware. Streaming music has come a long way in the last couple of years. I've been waiting for a long time to get my hands on Spotify so I can stop syncing music between my computer and my Mac. Now that Spotify is finally here in the US, I've realized that I have so many ways to stream music that I am hardly lacking for things to listen to and I'm not in a big rush to get hooked up. Lately, I've been all over Mixcloud and 8tracks. I love the idea of user-curated mixes of content I've never heard of that's put out there by strangers.

It looks like the doors are being blown wide open both underground and above. For the last two days I've been blown away by the new iPhone app that The Pixies just released. In addition to the expected news and photos, there's a bunch of videos and merch. The killer for me is the fact that you can stream three different concerts- Minneapolis 2004, Manchester 1988, and an acoustic set from Newport 2005. I've been smitten with the acoustic version of “Here Comes Your Man”.

I'm blown away by the power that's now in the hands of the bands. If you think about it, do The Pixies need to work with a record label ever again if they can get their music directly into your hands via your phone? A word of caution is needed here. The reason that The Pixies can do this is that a major label spent a lot of money and energy to make sure that people know who they are. That's not a knock at all-just a fact. Could an unknown band put out an iPhone app and have lots of people check out their music? Maybe, maybe not. I guess the point is that there are tools these days that weren't available 18 months ago. The landscape is shifting quickly.

I wonder what Steve Jobs thinks about all of this...

Fleet Foxes

I just finished a run of about six years in jobs related to the music business. Despite the enviable perk of having access to tons of free music available at any time, I found myself becoming increasingly disinterested in new bands. Much of what I encountered left no impression on me once the last song of an album faded out. I concluded that perhaps I'm simply at that age where music doesn't do for you what it once did. I've figured that the days of feeling swept away and living in anticipation for a band's next offering were now done. On most occasions, Band X will sound exactly like Band Y from the 70s, Band A will resemble Band B from the 80s and so on. Fleet Foxes, via their current release "Helplessness Blues", has restored my faith in the idea that a current band can have the power to transport you away from yourself while also holding up the mirror to reveal truths that you thought no one else could point out clearly.

"Montezuma", which opens "Helplessness Blues"' is a plaintive reflection on maturity and changing values with vocal harmonies that evoke Brian Wilson. The album is replete with meditations on past relationships and the search for personal identity. "Battery Kinzie", with its basic tom-tom foundation, is a hypnotic tale of a relationship quest that wasn't fulfilled as hoped. The opening lines of the title track are an admission of changing values with an honesty about being unsure of where change will lead:

I was raised up believing

I was somehow unique

Like a snowflake distinct among snowflakes, unique in each way you can see

And now after some thinking, I'd say I'd rather be

A functioning cog in some great machinery serving something beyond me

But I don't, I don't know what that will be

I'll get back to you someday soon you will see

This uncertainty becomes more vivid in the stripped-down shuffle of "Someone You'd Admire":

I walk with others in me, yearning to get out

Claw at my skin and gnash their teeth and shout

One of them wants only to be someone you'd admire

One would as soon just throw you on the fire

After all is said and after all is done

God only knows which of them I'll become

The songs on "Helplessness Blues" are not delivered from the vantage point of someone who's young and ready to take on the world. Instead, the sentiments expressed are from someone who's further along on a life journey and has traveled far enough to look back as a person who's evolved along the way. The intimacy and honesty of these songs are easily accessible to those who are walking their own paths imperfectly without all of the answers they hoped would be easily available. "Helplessness Blues", with it's combination of echo-drenched vocals and sparse yet ambient folk leanings, makes you feel like you're sitting in a cozy old church enveloped in the scent of musky incense.