Artists have different Spotify strategies

It seems that different artists have different strategies when it comes to Spotify and streaming music services in general. 

There's those who simply refuse to allow their music on the service. They include The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Bob Seger, and others.  Pink Floyd signed onto Spotify earlier this year.  And Paul McCartney allows his remastered reissues and new releases to be streamed. 

Then there's current artists who wait for months before posting their lastest release on Spotify.  I noticed this as I assemble my best of the year lists.

I've wanted to hear the new Josh Ritter and Boards of Canada albums but they hadn't been on Spotify.  Most new music arrives on the service the day it's released, making for very happy Tuesdays for me.

So I was surpised to find Ritter and Boards of Canada on Spotify yesterday when I went searching for some things that have been on my wish list.  I suppose the idea is to try and get the die-hards to buy the album first. 

It's an interesting approach and I'd like to see the statistical research.  Does holding out streaming release increase or decrease sales of albums? 

It used to be I'd buy a CD without ever hearing a note.  I'd rely on reviews as there was no internet and harldy and radio airplay for indie artists.  Nowadays I won't buy an album without first hearing it.  If I love what I hear on Spotify I buy the vinyl copy.  Granted, the number of albums I purchase has shrunk considerably but I'm a bit of an anomoly.  I mean who buys 200 to 300 albums a year?  I did.  

Then there's artists like Bill Callahan who simply won't put their new albums on Spotify at all.  I've heard two songs from his latest and like what I hear but he's not going to make my end of the year list.  Call it my small protest. 

 

Comments

[Richard Morgan]

The trouble with buying music the way we do now days is that I don't think buyers get to hear the full potential of some artists. With the ability to "Cherry Pick" with the likes of iTunes, consumers tend to buy only the first tune that happens to catch their fancy, maybe they heard it on the radio or some other medium, make a note of the name and go straight to iTunes and target only that track without ever listening to anything else on the rest of the album. Once upon a time you bought the complete album, maybe it was because of one tune, but you inevitably listened to the whole thing, probably more than once.
Eventually you could almost memorise the complete album and would anticipate certain other tunes you may normally never take the time to listen to. I think also you had a better appreciation of the full extent of that artist's talent.