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Spotify Wants Family Plan Members to Share Their Location Data 'From Time to Time'
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So if they are using location data, does that mean theoretically I could share the family plan with the people living in the flats above and below me? They aren't my family but I very much doubt if Spotify could tell what floor of a block of flats the location is. A clear breach of the T&C's but based on location data perfectly acceptable.
What a stupid policy.
What a stupid policy.
How about an RV spending months in different locations but still have a house as primary residence. This policy could get rather annoying having to explain the above. I understand the need to prevent theft of services and the challenges involved. Seems like this approach the path of least effort for Spotify.
Guys, what do you expect? Spotify has a broken business model. They have lost billions of dollars. Music streaming is, in essence, a commoditized business where the product is essentially the same and consumers choose mainly on price. Now couple with that they are competing against giants that have multiple revenue streams, e.g., Apple, Amazon, Google, etc., and Spotify can't raise prices to cover costs. In fact, with every person that they sign up costs them more money that they have to pay out, (even though Spotify pays artists about half of what Apple does.)
Spotify's only realistic hope is to get bought out or to diversity out of music. They are desperately trying to get a play in podcasts, which doesn't look good and is unlikely to succeed.
The same future likely lies ahead for Netflix as Netflix is a one trick pony as well trying to compete against the likes of Disney, Amazon, Sony, Google, Apple, Hulu, etc. Each of those companies are huge and have other revenue streams. Not quite analogous to music, but video streaming of "good enough" content is so prevalent that it is becoming somewhat of a commoditized industry, meaning Netflix can't raise prices enough to keep up with its soaring costs. Meanwhile, Apple just showed how it can leverage its new service against hardware sales. Just think, Apple TV plus will have over two hundred million subscribers in its first year! Should make it the number one streaming service in the world by far.
Spotify's only realistic hope is to get bought out or to diversity out of music. They are desperately trying to get a play in podcasts, which doesn't look good and is unlikely to succeed.
The same future likely lies ahead for Netflix as Netflix is a one trick pony as well trying to compete against the likes of Disney, Amazon, Sony, Google, Apple, Hulu, etc. Each of those companies are huge and have other revenue streams. Not quite analogous to music, but video streaming of "good enough" content is so prevalent that it is becoming somewhat of a commoditized industry, meaning Netflix can't raise prices enough to keep up with its soaring costs. Meanwhile, Apple just showed how it can leverage its new service against hardware sales. Just think, Apple TV plus will have over two hundred million subscribers in its first year! Should make it the number one streaming service in the world by far.
I agree very much. I don’t think podcasts are Spotify’s savior, and I don’t see this ending well for them. re: Netflix, I think they’re in trouble as well; I actually prefer Hulu atm and pay $11.99 for ad-free. But I reduced Netflix to the $8.99 Basic plan when they raised the HD plan to $12.99 (as a protest, to send a message; I don’t care about the $4).
Based on the anemic subscriber growth Netflix saw last quarter, I think they’ve reached the limits of their ability to raise prices. They’ve borrowed big to finance their original content, and I really don’t think the future looks too bright. They’ve got 150 million subscribers worldwide, but as you mention Apple could very well exceed that in their first year.
It’ll be interesting to see what the renewal rate for Apple TV+ is like come November 2020. After a year of customers having it, I’m guessing they’ll want to keep it, and at $4.99 I expect Apple will see a huge uptake.
PS Thanks for ditching the itals, I find them hard (slower) to read
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I agree very much. I don’t think podcasts are Spotify’s savior, and I don’t see this ending well for them. re: Netflix, I think they’re in trouble as well; I actually prefer Hulu atm and pay $11.99 for ad-free. But I reduced Netflix to the $8.99 Basic plan when they raised the HD plan to $12.99 (as a protest, to send a message; I don’t care about the $4).
Based on the anemic subscriber growth Netflix saw last quarter, I think they’ve reached the limits of their ability to raise prices. They’ve borrowed big to finance their original content, and I really don’t think the future looks too bright. They’ve got 150 million subscribers worldwide, but as you mention Apple could very well exceed that in their first year.
It’ll be interesting to see what the renewal rate for Apple TV+ is like come November 2020. After a year of customers having it, I’m guessing they’ll want to keep it, and at $4.99 I expect Apple will see a huge uptake.
PS Thanks for ditching the itals, I find them hard (slower) to read
Okay maybe I have missed something here. I’m not sure if comparing Apple TV+ to Netflix directly is a fair comparison. Unless I misunderstood, Apple TV+ will offer nothing but it’s original contents. That’s great and all, but I’m going need to see a bit more than just the nine shows. I mean even if the nine shows will be great, Id still like to see other shows, movies, documentaries and all. At this point at best we can compare Apple TV+ to says show time or HBO. I’d still favor Netflix because I have tons more options of what to watch when it comes to Netflix.
The only comparison between Netflix and Apple TV+ that I made is how many subscribers they could have by November 2020. But there are comparisons to be made.
re: amount of content, Apple has decided not to license library content that can be had elsewhere—they will have original and exclusive content only. They have a few dozen properties in various stages of production, and their catalog will grow each year.
The $4.99 price was chosen to stay below the pain threshold. It’s the cost of renting a movie or buying a few episodes of a series. By the time November 2020 rolls around, you can be sure that there will be 10-15 series that will be at or past that point where it becomes compelling and people get “hooked”, (anywhere from episode 1-5, say).
How many of the 100-250 million promo customers will actively cancel a Channel that (presumably) has content they like just so they can save $4.99/month? With a free year, it’s effectively $2.50/month for the first two years
Of course if the content isn’t good, people won’t stick around. But Apple is pretty good at hiring, and they certainly got a couple winners from Sony in Ehrlicht and Van Amburg.
Off topic but DirectvNow or AttTvNow requires location tracking to even use the app. When is Apple going to crack down on these apps...
I think they have to do that because there are local channel licensing issues? They can only play certain local channels and they need to maintain that depending where the customer is at?
If people are canceling for this, it probably means that they were illegally sharing their accounts which cost Spotify money.
In any case, I don't think that Spotify has a good business model and I think that Spotify will eventually fold or be bought out.
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How do you think Spotify should prevent illegal (from their standpoint) account sharing ?
Which in itself is an issue. I am from the east, but I live on the west coast right now. I want to watch east coast local content not west coast stuff. I have no reasonable options to do that. ATT should be fighting to make all affiliate content available for all subscribers. The fact that they don’t care is consistent with the fact that they don’t care.
I'm in the same boat right now. My permanent address is the house with my parents (and I am still a dependent), but I am traveling the country for an extended period of time (I.e. a year)!
Personally, I’m not sure why exactly it matters whether the 6 people Spotify allows are family or not. I don’t see the point in charging smaller families and individuals more than larger families. It’s their right to structure their pricing as they see fit, but it’s a turnoff...
I don’t think the implication here is that it only works at the location of the home, I think they just want to see everyone occasionally touch base.
It won’t work if everyone connects via cellular, but if everyone at least occasionally uses the same IP, then it would confirm they share the same infrastructure. Not a perfect solution, but neither is GPS location, and IP is less invasive because it is information they already have.
I don’t think the implication here is that it only works at the location of the home, I think they just want to see everyone occasionally touch base.
I love
I have tried the free with advertising version of Spotify. Everything about Apple Music is wonderful.
I have tried the free with advertising version of Spotify. Everything about Apple Music is wonderful.
That’s fine but maybe they can do periodic location checks. Currently it uses your location any and every time you use the app. Surely an hour into my viewing session i’m in the same city I was in at the start of the tv show?
Apple should have an additional option to allow location “one time” in addition to the “while using” option.
Spotify doesn’t need to prevent account sharing. They already limit the number of accounts that can belong to a family. How those accounts are used doesn’t matter. They take a look at the overall usage patterns for family accounts and set the price accordingly. That’s it.
What I mean by cancelled accounts is that Spotify may incorrectly deactivate an account on a family plan due to bad location data analysis. That will frustrate well behaved accounts into cancelling when they have done nothing wrong; even if there is an “easy” process to get reactivated. They will have already damaged the relationship with the customer.