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Spotify Seeking to Bar Apps That Transfer to Other Music Services From Using SDK

Could it be a bait? 🤷 Perhaps Spotify is criticized for this, they let someone take the case to court, Spotify does a lousy defense and loses, Spotify reverses course, boom a precedence is set for the ‘anti-competition’ watchdogs in EU to go after Apple? Who knows?!

I know this is an overstretch, but i couldn’t help myself to it. 😅
 
I know it would cost SongShift money but the right thing would be no more transferring to Spotify in retaliation. Only way Spotify is punished....
 
oneMadRssn said:
Maybe I'm being pedantic, but if I'm not literally using / listening to the Spotify app, I'm not being a Spotify user. If I'm trying to access Spotify playlists while using the Apple Music app, then I am an Apple Music user in that moment because I am not "using" Spotify.

Yes it's inconvenient to people who subscribe to multiple music streaming services. No doubt there. I just don't see it is as against Spotify users. A Spotify user would never know or even see this difference until they stop being a Spotify user.

In other words, the user experience inside Spotify doesn't change one bit.
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If you're paying for Spotify, you're a Spotify user. Even if you're on the way out, you paid for the service and are still a user. I'm trying to think of an appropriate analogy, but maybe something like if you wanted to leave iPhone and Apple wouldn't let you transfer any of your data to an Android phone?
 
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Just wow. Amazing no-one at Spotify thought this may smell of hypocrisy.

Glad I've moved to AM. This, the lack of offline Apple Watch support and their general lack of any commitment to customer communication are good enough reasons for me to say goodbye
 
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Timing couldn't be more appropriate. I was actually using this app to trial Apple Music with the Apple One in the horizon. I'm not sure what I'll use in the end, but Apple One is compelling.

JosephAW said:
Can it even be done the other way? Apple to Spotify?
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The app does allow for selecting Apple Music as the source and to select Spotify (or others) as the destination. Though I'm not aware of any rules Apple may have regarding how people use the music API.

In general, I'm not too sure how I feel about the move. It does bring up interesting thinking points. Spotify recognizes that competition is heating up. However, regarding Apple Music specifically, if Apple One is what really motivated Spotify to enforce this, then that assumes a consumer perspective, Apple Music is "good enough" but the bundling is what gives it the edge and not necessarily Apple Music specifically. Under some lenses, they may interpret that as stifling innovation for music streaming specifically.

I recognize that there are many other types of users (artists, recording publishers, etc.) that may perceive innovative value when it comes to the licensing models they may employ, and for consumers, that there are other features I'm overlooking (local music integration, etc.) that may set Apple Music apart. It was just something interesting to think about, the underlying reasons Spotify is doing this and bringing it up now.
 
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Very hypocritical. And very stupid. If a company truly has a superior offering, they shouldn’t feel the need to “trap” it’s users into an ecosystem no matter who they are. And thus, should welcome portability in BOTH directions, not just one.
 
hello, pot? Meet kettle. And the content Spotify speaks of is not their content. They didn't create it. They are paying a license to access it. Therefore, they should not have any right to dictate how someone listens to the content.

This would be like preventing someone from making a mix tape back in the day. Take multiple songs, put them on a different format and play them on a different device.
 
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Why does Apple owned Shazam connect to Spotify by default, at least on my devices, annoying as when I hear a song I like I need to search for it again on Apple Music to add to my library. Seems like Apple is being overly generous to Spotify to me, unless I have this all wrong…
 
Techwatcher said:
I just don't see what people see in Spotify (have a premium free trial), Apple Music is clearly better. All of the music services have been catching up to Spotify in terms of their music discovery algorithm so it's not like they have any other clear advantages. And with Apple TV coming to Xbox Series X and PS5, I'm sure Apple Music will be on there too.
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Well, not to me it hasn’t been. I use Spotify for a number of reasons. I like the interface, I have a deal where Spotify and Hulu were bundled together, and I see Apple Music down from time to time..Spotify has always just worked for me. And worked quickly..like instant. I love that. Additionally, I have enjoyed the playlist they have created for me over the years including new weekly releases geared to me, Summer Rewind mixes, and especially the year end playlist which are always a nice look back to see what I was into in any given year.

Plus I like competition. I don’t think it’s good for one or two companies to be the only service for a particular thing, which is how this could ultimately shake out down the road. But, if Spotify starts losing users as this thread seems to indicate it is, that might force my hand someday. I have some of my stuff in YouTube Music but while an improvement over Google Play Music, it’s still got a horrible UI that just doesn’t logically work the way I want it to. I’d prefer Spotify stick around. I really like it and would hate having to use something else.
 
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Joseph H said:
Not a good look from Spotify given their protestations about Apple not “being fair”.

Apple Music closed the gap with Spotify in the last few years and I moved back late last year having been a Spotify user since around 2010 - and haven’t looked back.

Recommendations, curated playlists, UI and integration with Apple’s ecosystem make it the clear winner for me.

Bye Spotify.
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I tried Apple Music for a year but their recommendations were terrible. They would keep recommending artists I was already listing to or cover songs of songs in my library. The recommendations were the only thing that led me back to Spotify. Otherwise I would use Apple Music.
 
I've been using Apple Music/iTunes since the very beginning. However, given the systemic problems 'that I experience' with Apple Music, I'm surprised folks would want to transfer from another music service to Apple Music. Notwithstanding, on the rare occasions when Apple Music, Siri, and my HomePods all work together, it's pretty cool.
 
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s66 said:
This is Spotify letting end users know that if they ever want to transfer out to Apple Music or any other such service: NOW is the time to do it while they still can. Lock in about to happen.


I'm not entirely sure, but there are EU regulations that force companies to let you leave with your data (it's part of GDPR AFAIK). A playlist etc. would certainly be data where that would apply, and they have to let you leave with it in a usable format. GDPR fines are pretty steep.
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I don't agree with what they are doing, but they could allow the user to leave, with a text version of their playlists. They don't have to allow you to transfer it to a competitor.
 
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HacKage said:
Not being allowed to offer your app outwith Apple's payment terms is not the same as moving content from Spotify to another service using Spotify's own tools.
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So I’m curious... you think it’s ok that Spotify not want to allow other services to use their tools to move content, but it’s ok for Spotify to want to use Apple’s software development tools, and platform, and application delivery and updating and everything that is involved... free of charge...? You don’t see the irony in that?
 
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The amount of “glad I moved to Apple Music!” takes is humorous, I must admit...

“Screw Spotify! I’m getting myself even deeper with the Turbo huge planet size mega monopoly!! (Apple) - that will show ‘em!”
 
Digital Dude said:
I've been using Apple Music/iTunes since the very beginning. However, given the systemic problems with Apple Music, I'm surprised anybody would want to transfer from Spotify or any other music service to Apple Music. Notwithstanding, on the rare occasions when Apple Music, Siri, and my HomePods all work together, it's pretty cool.
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Hmmm. Mine work great. Sometimes the router gets flaky, but that is not Apple Music, that is the router. And not to mention the appletv s work well with the homepods, and even my Apple Watch can control any of my devices I wonder about your problems
 
turbineseaplane said:
The amount of “glad I moved to Apple Music!” takes is humorous, I must admit...

“Screw Spotify! I’m getting myself even deeper with the Turbo huge planet size mega monopoly!! (Apple) - that will show ‘em!”
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You actually have to control markets to be a monopoly, so no, Apple is not even close to a monopoly. Spotify controls the music streaming, so maybe they are a monopoly. Android dominates in mobile, so maybe google is a monopoly. Windows still dominates in PCs so maybe they are a monopoly. But Apple? Be serious. The thing Apple does so extremely well is have much better than average products (each with modest market shares) that all work together extremely well

it is so humorous to see people scream monopoly when they make up their own definition for the term.
 
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gaximus said:
I don't agree with what they are doing, but they could allow the user to leave, with a text version of their playlists. They don't have to allow you to transfer it to a competitor.
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Aren’t their apps for that? I keep seeing services that allow you to import/ export your playlists between services. I presume they work
 
Now my shortcut for transferring Spotify playlist to Apple Music will be more useful than ever. I just need to do some corrections

For those interested I can make shortcut to transfer playlist to text file
 
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