Spotify - anyone heard of it?

Maybe they are "fixed", and that Spotify is paid to push those artists?

No, that's not it.

I love how for so many artists who I want to hear an 80s pop song by I get some re-recorded 2000s version of it and can't find the original. namely The Jets's "Make it Real" or Benny Mardones "Into the Night"...

Jets "Make It Real": http://open.spotify.com/track/3sasIFIs1FUbB9gp03JUts
Benny Mardones "Into the Night": http://open.spotify.com/track/0rhyBUAgNXwdyvGVXSrLzc

These sound like the right versions. All I did was search on "jets make it real" or "benny mardones into the night", and these were the first results in both cases...

nope, it's a decent reproduction, but that is definitely not the original version of "Make It Real". This is the original, and you can tell it's different as she uses slightly different inflections in the chorus, plus the keyboards are slightly different: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouOfSl2CFbY

that is the orig (1980) Mardones version tho, maybe I missed it several months ago or they added it in. when I last tried it was always a newer 2000s version.

Yeah, I buy that they're slightly different versions of that Jets song, but I think the one I linked is also from the original era, not a later re-recording. Album vs single mix, maybe? The actual Jets albums appear to just not be available on any of the commercial online services. Not iTunes, and not anything the Echo Nest tracks. Everybody only has comps.

possible. the guitar solo though sounds a bit like a modern reproduction, but I can't place the era.

mardones records a new version of 'into the night' every few years to mark the passage of the years, a real time demonstration of 'i keep getting older but they stay the same age'

hah yeah that too

that jets track is DEFINITELY a re-recording. Pretty much everything on K-Tel on Spotify, except for the occasional '60s indie thing, is a re-recording.

the original is available on a 20th century masters comp from Geffen, though. Helps to look at the label on these things.

the k-tel stuff apparently was recorded in 1998 - their wikipedia's pretty straightforward about it

fyi glenn i'd also avoid recommending tracks from goldenlane records and deadline music - all re-recording compilation pushers

it's funny, i went to great lengths to try and keep re-recordings out of my top 40 playlists, but every once and a while when the original disappears from the site they'll just link to some crap redux version.

like this shirelles reissue went away - http://open.spotify.com/album/1tF35RmMriESRkYvn4VrEZ

so now links to "baby it's you" from it feed to...this: http://open.spotify.com/album/7drJ2KUsPcmRcmcYv77FK2

lol apparently goldenlane and deadline and purple pyramid are all just names for cleopatra, the guys who bring you those "Tracii Guns and Mark Slaughter - Stairway To Heaven" comps

someone posted this on fb

https://fbcdn-sphotos-c-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/t1/1896987_10151918266737245_976104548_n.jpg

rofl

I have 100% faith in Glenn to get that all fixed

Could be an experiment/glitch/weird data...on the whole I think Spotify recommendations are pretty good! Apart from the ones that tell you about artists you already listen to.

You should never have 100% faith in anything. But 95% faith would be heartening. Thanks!

can any UK-ilxors check Spotify to see if they have Debbie Friedman's miracles and wonders album? for some reason i can access her catalog when going thru old playlists and other ppl's direct spotify links, but not directly thru search function.

no, a search on her name here just gives 'Songs of the spirit', a 2-cd anthology.

Search is weird for some albums. Try searching for a song title and then click more info and view album details. If necessary, make a playlist for the album.

oh man, i just looked at the "related artists" for kesha and they include shitty mp3-only cover shit with titles like "cover pop," "tribute mega stars" and "rainbow mix" in between austin mahone, rihanna and katy perry.

never looked at the "related artists" to a big modern pop act before, i knew it could be a little clunky and repetitive when it came to more obscure stuff, but i didn't know they'd straight up point you towards karaoke-style covers.

that said the related artists for lesser-known acts are actually genuinely fascinating/useful!

totally - i just didn't realize how absurd whatever algorithm they use gets when karaoke-style shit was in play.

the top 5 "related artists" for tribute-makers Radio Waves are: Big Hits 2012, Don't Wake Me Up (literally just a single anonymous cover of Chris Brown's "Don't Wake Me Up"), Hit Makers 2012, Phat Tunes and Paris Hilton.

eagerly anticipating Hit Makers 2012's followup

I listen to Spotify on my MacBook at the office, and sometimes on my iPhone, but at home I mostly listen to it through my living room home theater system, which has a Squeezebox attached. Recently I was showing this system to my father, who is in the market for new TV and music gear, and now he's all about getting something that will let him use Spotify the same way.

What kind of equipment are people using for similar purposes? There's got to be something really simple I could set up for him, judging from the number of receivers and receiver-connectable devices that now support Spotify.

Wait does that Squeezebox still work?

this is what i use and i really like it:
http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/PUSA/Home/Wireless-Speakers/A4+XW-SMA4-K

I've mostly been playing spotify through the roku lately with my tv audio routed to my stereo. I like being able to see what's playing on the screen and use the tv remote to skip. However I don't like that the roku app doesn't allow you to play an entire playlist folder, only individual playlists.

yeah, the Squeezebox works fine

Ours finally died so we went with Sonos

Sonos. He'll need something to control it -- an iPhone or Android phone, iPod Touch, computer -- but it's super easy to set up and use. They make self-contained speakers as well as boxes that you can hook into an existing stereo system. I've been really happy with mine.

I just have my computer close to my stereo and run a cord out of the headphone jack that has RCA cables on the other ends. I plug them into the "VCR" channel on my receiver because it's not being used.

had a dream last night that the RIAA or some similar institution shut spotify down. there were so many songs that i couldn't summon on command anymore, i felt a profound sense of loss.

it's gonna be okay treeship

i would feel a sense of relief at that
a couple of weeks ago spotify choice anxiety was driving me irl insane

i find that half the time I don't even finish whole tracks on there bc i need to switch to the next thing i thought of, it's just not good for my brain.

that's the internet in general for me.

http://www.sfgate.com/technology/businessinsider/article/One-Band-Is-Making-Money-On-Spotify-By-Streaming-5335449.php

Michigan-based rock trio Vulfpeck recently released a 10-track album on Spotify to help fund its tour, Digiday reports.

But here's the thing: the entire "Sleepify" album is pure silence. The idea is for fans to stream the album while they're sleeping. Since Spotify requires a track to be at least 30 seconds long, all of the Sleepify tracks are at least 30 seconds of silence.

Vulfpeck also thinks it can make enough money to not have to charge anything at the door. One listen to a Vulpeck song on Spotify gets the band half a cent. If a single person listens to the album on repeat during a 7-hour sleep session, Vulpeck has calculated that it could earn $4 per person.

"It's a clever stunt," a Spotify spokesperson told Business Insider via email. "Not much more to say than that."

This is not the first time someone has tried to game Spotify. Back in January, we found out that Matt Farley made $23,000 last year from posting songs to Spotify and iTunes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KXvncV79LXk

Since Spotify requires a track to be at least 30 seconds long

this isn't true, idgi

I pulled out my 128 gb iPod and am enjoying it so much more than spotify. Call it choice anxiety I guess.

There are still songs in my own collection that I haven't fully digested. I don't need 10 million more.

Since Spotify requires a track to be at least 30 seconds long

this isn't true, idgi
― ogmor, Friday, March 21, 2014

maybe if it's silence? so that they can't release a 6,000 track album and make $30 per play?

this is a waste of energy and bandwidth

Spotify bitcoin mining is kinda next level honestly

because it's real coin

is there any reason why Hounds of Love isn't on US spotify when the other kate bush records all are? was it on a different label or something?

it's the spotify omission that bothers me the most since it's my favorite record and there's no obvious reason for it not to be there.