Comments on: Playlost – does free music mean the death of radio?

By: Spotify touches an Alcopop heart or two… « Alcopop!

Spotify touches an Alcopop heart or two… « Alcopop! — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 23:30:41 +0000

[...] majors (and I rather think it’s not going to help them keep on top of the casual consumer) – there are a few people who are worrying for the future of commercial radio. I’m not so sure that’s going to be a massive problem though in truth, ‘cos you just can’t [...]

By: nigel barlow

nigel barlow — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 21:28:20 +0000

I tend to agree.

Personally I don't very often listen to the radio for music,last Fm and my IPod satisfy that service but speech based radio is an important part of the airwaves.

I will check out spotify though

By: MartinSFP

MartinSFP — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 16:47:56 +0000

Thanks for the detailed and well reasoned comment! I don't think for one minute Spotify will replace all radio listenership, just that Spotify (or something like it) will replace radio for some people as it will better fit their needs.

By: dmkinteractive

dmkinteractive — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 16:10:43 +0000

Good post, but I have some serious reservations about Spotify's potential to bring about the death of radio. For one thing they work in two completely different ways; Spotify requires the user to do some work to get to what they want, not only does the user have to decide what they want to listen to, but they have to search for it too. Granted, picking genres and tags can speed up this process but the idea of using complex algorithms to suggest what you will want to hear against experience and knowledgable music programmers that know their audience is a no brainer. The only action a listener has to do to get what they want is to turn on and tune in.

More than that, listeners identify with DJs, personality is something that Spotify does not have, nor does it have a website that it can tell it's listeners to go to thus creating page impressions and revenue, nor do they engage and involve their listeners (likewise with Pandora and Last.fm) through conversations and competitions, nor does Spotify bring you any humour such as a breakfast show would.

Then there is the business model. At present Spotify plays audio ads, the radio industry has, for a number of years now realised that this is not a sufficient revenue generator which and is why it has evolved to be become a multi-platform medium. Which brings me to my next point. Platforms, at the radio station I work in our output is available on a plethora of platforms, over 30, Spotify? One. Just one.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not rubbishing your post, it is quite easy to see why Spotify is so great. I use it myself and love it to pieces. But don't expect it to kill radio, there is plenty of scope for it to be used with radio to create more a personalised experience, in fact if there isn't a working relationship between Spotify and a radio group by the end of this year then I'll be very surprised.

If you want to know more about the future of radio in the digital age then I'd recommend taking a look at my former line managers blog: http://james.cridland.net there surely is no more of an expert on the subject than James.

By: Ricky Chotai

Ricky Chotai — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 05:46:40 +0000

I love spotify I think it is a amazing service, however I am also a student radio DJ so I really hope it is not the death of radio. I think in the next few years community radio http://www.ofcom.org.uk/radio/ifi/rbl/commun_ra... will be far bigger then it is today. I think there are about 5 community stations in the Grtr Manchester Area. It's a hard one radio has once sort of advertising model which is hard to sell (I was my student station head of sales for a year).