They tried to go in on Apple. They never went at Google or Android like that. They charge similar rates to Apple. I guess because Google users aren't paying anything. Maybe if Spotify actually charged everyone they'd be able to reach profitability sooner.
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Spotify Encourages Customers to Cancel App Store Subscription, Resubscribe via Web to Save $3
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That didn't even make sense. Why don't you edit it in the morning, once you've sobered up? Then I'll respond.
If you have a bunch of iTunes gift cards it makes sense to subscribe through iTunes.
Amazon isn't losing money. They're making a **** ton of if - but they choose to put that money back into R&D and acquisitions. And it's worked splendidly for them. Spotify has yet to turn a profit. In fact, their business model is flawed. And unless they raise their prices by at least $5, they'll be out of business within the next three years.
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This 1000%, plus supporting reduced rate premium for people like me on Vodafone paying £3 a month for it.
Have already canceled my Spotify subscription and have read many tales of others doing the same. Spotify are haemorrhaging.
Indeed, it was so bad that they had to shut down the page which allowed people to close their account. I watched the Twitter search stream and was amused. As tens of thousands wrote to the Spotify Twitter account about not being able to access that page, the writer on the Spotify account replied to others about the AC/DC release while acting like nothing was going on. So Apple gave refunds to some people that wanted to cancel while the Spotify team was being unresponsive.
To me, there's no way the Spotify execs weren't panicking. *imagines a scene of Spotify execs screaming "close the door! close the door!" as subscribers rushed the office*
No wonder you got chased out of the AI forums.
Ask a developer if they'd like 70% of potentially millions of sales, or 100% of a fraction of that? Why don't you go tell Walmart you want to put a vending machine outside their store where untold thousands pass every day, but you don't want to give Walmart any money for the privilege of being in a high traffic location.
30% is the standard price charged by Apple, Google and Amazon.
**** you Spotify! YOU are not available on my purchase list. Same goes for Pandora and other neighbourhood streaming services. You should now by now that Internet is available world wide and that 10$ from west are exactly the same as 10$ from east.
I'm grateful that Apple started this service and it is available everywhere. If only they could make Vodafone and Orange not to charge for traffic to
Music... 
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Same, I cancelled my Spotify premium account a few weeks. It will be interesting to see if Apple iron out the kinks in Apple Music before the end of the free trial period.
The subway comparison is not very good. The App Store is the only game in town (by mandate) for normal users to buy and install apps. A subway is one of many competing means of transportation - if only there were other legitimate options for buying and installing apps on iOS!
I'm arguing that Apple's fixed 30% cut is inflexible and excessive to some business models, and that users suffer as a result (as shown in this Spotify case). Most companies with merchant accounts are probably closer to 3% in transaction fees and hosting is cheap, too. So for 10x as much overhead, Apple offers nothing but extra headaches to devs including:
- For 30%, devs wait 1-2 weeks for app review instead of just pushing the update to users when it's done.
- For 30%, Apple may reject a dev's app for a nebulous (or pure BS) reason, further pushing a delay.
- For 30%, Apple doesn't do any marketing – unless the dev is one of the lucky, featured few.
- For 30%, Apple doesn't give devs any way to communicate with customers who are having issues. Devs just get to read bad reviews.
- For 30%, Apple doesn't do any support – they don't even let devs initiate a refund to a customer who does happen to contact devs directly.
- For 30%, devs don't even know who their customers are. I hate scumbag marketing (anyone who emails me out of the blue), but having aggregate anonymous demographics from a receipt can be useful. Apple's new Analytics is better than nothing, but still sucks compared to other solutions.
- For 30%, Apple makes devs put up with an opaque app submission processes that gives cryptic error messages when things go wrong and makes devs resort to using real-life voodoo to try to get it working again.
- For 30%, Apple can't even be bothered to fix their broken app search which frequently returns results that are only tangentially related to the search term.
Spotify is what happens when Apple has real competition. Apple can go ahead and charge what they want to sell in their store, that's their right - but it's not helping the TOTAL ECOSYSTEM when their costs naturally get passed on to users because they don't do jack for devs to justify it or help defray such costs by providing other value.
I will support any company that raises awareness as to how garbage the App Store process is.
3 measly stinking' dollars ? Better than nothing i guess but i doubt this will encourage anyone to change.
So ya, Spotify is right.....
What are these kinks .. ? All i see is good stuff with Apple Music. At last i can listen to mixes Spotify never had.
And this is only just the launch,.....
So ya, Spotify is right.....
What are these kinks .. ? All i see is good stuff with Apple Music. At last i can listen to mixes Spotify never had.
And this is only just the launch,.....
Too little too late. I am on Apple Music. Spotify has earned my last dollar.
How is this a "promotion"? Spotify isn't actually doing anything or giving anyone anything. They're simply pointing out that it costs more to subscribe to their service through the App Store than directly from their webpage. I dumped Spotify when Apple Music came out. The Apple Music interface isn't perfect and could learn from Spotify in that regard but it will only get better. It's only been out for days while Spotify has had years to get out the kinks.
I'm sticking with Spotify for now and getting my free three month trial when the kinks have been worked out of Apple Music.
I don't get the complaints about Apple music and I'm one of the people who is pretty averse to paying to essentially rent music. So far it's been convenient as hell and dead on accurate at recommending playlists and artists with me just simply listening to my own music and them deriving recommendations based off of it. Over the past week I've already discovered and listened to several albums that I wouldn't have heard otherwise. It almost feels like having every song in existence at your fingertips at all times. I'm strongly considering paying for it after the trial ends.
As for Spotify, the writing is on the wall, their days are numbered. If they couldn't turn a profit before Apple Music then they sure as hell won't now. The free trial combined with the fact that Apple owns the OS is just going to be too much for them to bear I believe.
As for Spotify, the writing is on the wall, their days are numbered. If they couldn't turn a profit before Apple Music then they sure as hell won't now. The free trial combined with the fact that Apple owns the OS is just going to be too much for them to bear I believe.
I agree. So far, I've found Apple Music's interface to be so bad it's close to unusable. In fact, I have had trouble even getting it to work on my iPad Air II. It is slow to respond or simply crashes.
Was Ive involved with this design? The guy might be a genius at designing physical products but I don't think that translates to UI design.
You're response is beyond absurd.
You got a choice bud. If Apple provides so little value, go to Android were people don't spent a cent on software and see how you make a living over there : 100% of nothing is just awesome I hear...
That's were the greatest value is bud, a place people are actually willing to spend a bit of money on software and services. A rare commodity in this time and place when people want everything for nearly nothing. Yes, a few dollars for good software is sort of absurd (I come from a time when software cost a fortune) and maybe we can fault Apple for popularizing this notion, but it was going that way anyway. Can't stop progress and all that...
BTW, I've developed the tech and business side of projects of all sizes since the 1980s;
so I don't need a newbie to "teach" me. Got that.
Really, how would the UI being slow be his responsibility or crash. Is he coding the thing now? There that are things said sometimes! BTW, haven'T seen this purported slowness.
Sometimes I feel like MacRumors is overrun with people who don't even like Apple. Apple charges 30% to use their storefront. All sellers do this (any retail store, eBay, Etsy, Google Play). This is how they generate revenue from the app store so they can continue to operate it (and make money). Every developer knows this going in, and yet a lot of us are acting like Spotify is sticking it to the man or doing us a service by charging more on Apple devices. They could have easily refused to put the app on the app store, or refused to allow users to sign up through the app, but they didn't.
I don't use Android so I don't know if they do the same thing there, but why not just force the user to sign up outside of the app? That way everybody gets to pay 9.99, Apple doesn't get a dime of it, and Spotify doesn't look like a bunch of tools.
Sorry to say it but Spotify dug themselves into a hole by offering the service for way less than they should have. Apple Music (and Beats before it) made the right call not even supporting a free option. Spotify needs to address this but I'm not sure how. Clearly improving the product does not make people more inclined to pay. I wonder if simply dumping the free tier would free up enough operating costs to be profitable?
I don't use Android so I don't know if they do the same thing there, but why not just force the user to sign up outside of the app? That way everybody gets to pay 9.99, Apple doesn't get a dime of it, and Spotify doesn't look like a bunch of tools.
Sorry to say it but Spotify dug themselves into a hole by offering the service for way less than they should have. Apple Music (and Beats before it) made the right call not even supporting a free option. Spotify needs to address this but I'm not sure how. Clearly improving the product does not make people more inclined to pay. I wonder if simply dumping the free tier would free up enough operating costs to be profitable?
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Shots were fired long ago my friend. we're well in the middle of the war already.
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**** you Spotify! YOU are not available on my purchase list. Same goes for Pandora and other neighbourhood streaming services. You should now by now that Internet is available world wide and that 10$ from west are exactly the same as 10$ from east.
I'm grateful that Apple started this service and it is available everywhere. If only they could make Vodafone and Orange not to charge for traffic to
thats typically not Spotifys fault.
Im in Canada and I'm constantly bombarded with this kind of screen. it's insanely frustrating.
but I wanted to know WHY it was happening.
Most often it has nothing to do with the service provider itself, but the content owner. the Content owners, Typically RIAA, it's affiliants and the producers have operated mainly under U.S. copyright laws, which, if you follow a little, have always been subject to their whims (The good old Mickey Mouse rule).
They do not have the same controls and power internationally. Which means, when the industry, producers and distributers need to go international, they actually have to try and negotiate with foreign countries about their copywrite laws and how they are enfroced.
Quite frequently, they just don't want to. So they tell the American hosting company, like spotify/netflix. "DO not make our content available outside of the US".
if Spotify is unable to gain enough content support for operating in Canada for example, they might just end up having to choose to not operate at all in that country.
Happened to Pandora so many years ago here. Was listening everyday at work when suddenly one day BAM, "Pandora is no longer available in Canada due to copyright regulations"
You need to try putting up an app in Google's ecosystem. It's a hot mess and the people don't pay. They want free everything. I agree that the 30% cut is high but you are getting access to the bulk of the paying customers.
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