Can we please stop comparing music to water?

It's ridiculous, on too many levels. 

Let's also stop comparing Spotify's numbers in Sweden (where funnily enough the Pirate Bay resides, along with lawmakers who are looking to pass a bill ok'ing piracy for "home or personal use")

Sweden is a tiny, and very specific market (it's also in scandinavia and has a completely different wealth distribution and gdp). 

Are we really going to extrapolate this info and compare it to the US? The largest music market in the world?

For more info about "music as water," read: http://www.futureofmusicbook.com/. The authors substantiate the analogy quite well. The book predicts what's happening now, as well as future technologies. It's really well done.

Could you possibly paraphrase some of this for me? 

You see, not too dissimilar to most of the music consuming population, I prefer to preview something before buying...or of course get it for free. 

Thanks in Advance. 

Attention! Spotify is NOT the second biggest digital "revenue source" in Europe.

How can it be when it is not available in Germany (80 million population) and Italy (60 million population) and many other European countries?

More lies. It's all smoke and mirrors!

If "music is like water" then Spotify's goal is to become the monopoly water company. A nasty major music corporation far nastier than any of the major record labels.

Is this what we want? Truly is this what we really want? Surely not!!

Beyond lies and propaganda.

Sorry SPOT....my choons are sold on Dj Download, Juno, Itunes and Beatport World Wide.  We are doing well and YOU CAN KISS MY TECHNO ASS. as you will never have our catalogue.

Let the majors sell out their artist to you.   And no, you will not make ITUNES a thing of the pass. 

Awesome. I support innovation 100%

This can easily become the gateway drug to how we will consume music.  My one complaint I often receive from my friends is that they like spotify, but they want to be told what they need to hear based on their preference or mood (in so many words).

I support innovation 100% they are successfully finding ways to eliminate piracy... now if we can get the release the stranglehold that theaters have on movies...we'd be good... 

I had a friend who asked where he can download free music... and told me HE WILL NOT BUY any music... I asked him have he heard of spotify/pandora 4 android... He downloaded the app and somewhere a few artists got paid...

Yea.. it might be pennies per person...but if you have GREAT music that people ACTUALLY WANT to hear... those pennies will soon add up :-)

Funny how your friend doesn't want to support the Creative Commons community of artists and listen to music for free, legally...

 Reynaud 

what Apple should have done to iTunes a long time ago.

True dat...

well, i guess it is good news for some who seek more exposure (well, in a way, because you would have to make it to those other apps before being linked on spotify...)... 

Even for smaller labels and DIY, it can be interesting, through a renewal of the magazines' "release of the month" and so on, and not rely on a abstract text wrote by a music critic....

It could renew the content of those digital newspapers...

May be....

Eventhough one can regret that it happens in a "monopolistic perspective" as all the technologies to make media rich content are available for a while....

lazyness of the industry in its rethinking ? obligation to submit to a monopolistic view ?

I don't think it is bad news, but i am sure it can tell a lot on the mind of the music industry as a whole, beit major labels, broadcasters, magazines and other players....

The abuse of dominant position is not so far i would day :-)

i would say....

Another issue to take into consideration is the fact that these specific partners will effectively become the new corporate filters, and in turn gatekeepers of this model...

Keith Meyer 

Spotify wants to take over your internet music life.

Is this platform open to anyone?  And what's the approval process?

It's open to all artists, by going through a distributor like CD Baby.

As far as app developers, I'm assuming that there's an official approval process they have to go through.

Jeremy Schlosberg 

Ek still talking the "music like water" talk. This remains an adolescent analogy, and frightful concept.

I highly recommend you read The Future of Music by David Kusek and Gerd Leonhard before dismissing the "music like water" analogy: http://www.futureofmusicbook.com/.

 Jing 

Big milestone for Spotify, congrats to the team!

Montgomery Smile

I hope it doesn't get lame.

Can we please stop comparing music to water?

I'd recommend you read the Future of Music by Gerd Leonhard and David Kusek. It will help you understand why the analogy is so prescient: http://www.futureofmusicbook.com/.

The Swedish stats are somewhat disingenious in that they benefit immensely from having a deal with Sweden's largest broadband provider Telia. Telia subscribers get Spotify "bundled" so the # of users and usage is inflated. 

it's funny that daniel ek always says that Spotify is a big source of revenue TO LABELS. And this probably means major labels, who don't pay the money to artists. And most of this money comes from the probability that the labels have some kind of ownership in Spotify unlike independent labels and certainly unlike the people who actually create the music. 

Artists, as always get the shaft 

It's up to artists not to sign an onerous deal with the majors.

If an artist owns their own publishing, and registers with Sound Exchange, then they will receive all of the digital/streaming music  royalties owed to them. Unfortunately, many artists don't even know what Sound Exchange is... 

If Spotify thinks music should be like water, then run for your lives. The people who invested in Spotify destroyed a great number of Latin America's fresh water reserves.

Really? Can you elaborate?

Not sure if its a direct correlation, but to even attempt to compare a basic, critical human need (water) to music as a decommodified resource, it's Batsh*t Crazy.