Okay. I rarely tell you what to do (cough, cough) or even suggest that I know what I’m talking about (COUGH), but this is one of them things I’m sure of.
Spotify Premium has made my life a better place. I know what you’re thinking. ”But, Allyson, your life is awesome. You go to concerts all the time, work full-time selling fishing equipment and are a national debate champion (did I mention that?). How could your life get better?” And yeah. I agree with you. My life was pretty great to begin with.
So imagine how awesome Spotify Premium has to be. Here’s the ice cream scoop.
1. No adverts
No, it wasn’t the most irritating thing in the world. Much like commercials in the midst of my favorite TV shows, I was able to forebear. But imagine a world in which you don’t have to forebear. A world so amazingly convenient that you never have to hear advertisements again.
It’s the TiVo of the music listening world! It’s revolutionary! It’s evolutionary! I can’t believe it’s not butter!
It’s smooth listening with no interruptions, and that’s a beautiful thing.
2. No time restraints
If you don’t pay for Spotify, you won’t get all the goodies of Spotify. We’re all familiar with the concept. You get what you pay for. If you don’t pay for Spotify (by either buying Unlimited or Premium), you are subject to time limits. You can listen to a maximum of 10 hours of music monthly.
I’m pretty sure I go beyond 10 hours in a day. I’m rarely not listening to music. Even when it’s just in the background, I always have some music going. It’s a good way to give my day that extra something it was probably missing. 10 hours is terrible. It’s enough time to taunt you but not enough to satisfy you.
Unlimited and Premium mean that you never have to stop the music.
3. It’s mobile!
One of my biggest complaints about Grooveshark and other online music databases is that you can’t listen to the music on your phone (I have an iPhone. That might be important for context.). I mean, my iTunes library will obviously play music on my phone, but only if I’ve purchased or illegally downloaded some music (Not that I’ve ever done this or ever will in the future).
Spotify Premium opens up the world of music even when I’m not connected to the internet. I can sync playlists to be available even when I’m offline. It’s exactly what I always needed without quite knowing that I needed it. To say it’s convenient is to undermine the magic of Spotify.
I listen to the music and the music listens to me. We are legion.
4. The radio
You know how awesome Pandora can be? Spotify radio is better. It has all of the benefits of Pandora, but none of the drawbacks. Imagine a world where you really like a song or an artist and you want to listen to more music like it. Now imagine that you could create a radio station that will play music with qualities similar to that original song or artist you liked. Got it? It’s a complicated imagining, but I think you can get there.
Okay, let’s stop pretending. Let’s address the reality. When listening to Spotify radio, you can hear a song you really like. The radio station then enables you to be the master of your fate. If you give the song a thumbs up, the song is added to a playlist called “Liked from Radio.” You don’t have to try to keep notes on which songs you like. Spotify does that for you.
My “Liked from Radio” Spotify screen.
It makes discovering music so much easier.
5. Pays the labels
This is true for whatever version of Spotify you use. Spotify pays the labels of artist’s on a per-listen basis. This means that, while the money may not be going directly to the artist, it IS going to their label. In the world of the internet and readily accessible torrented music, it’s refreshing to have a way to listen to music (without owning it) that still benefits the artist (assuming the label pays them).
Listen to music, and get some money in the musician’s hands (maybe). I mean, theoretically, an artist could make more money off of Spotify than iTunes. If a song on iTunes costs me .99¢, that’s all I’ll ever pay for it. Even if I listen to that song 500 times, I’ll only have paid for it once. If I listen to a song 500 times on Spotify, the artist will get paid 500 times (granted, the artist isn’t making the same .99¢ a listen…for more info read this article).
I get paid in awesome jams and the labels get paid in the green stuff. Alllllllll right.
Seriously, Spotify gets a serious thumbs up from me. I adore it. It’s possibly the wisest investment I make a month (apart from my car payment of course).
If you already have Spotify, it’s like we’re related. If you don’t…what’s wrong with you?
Get on it.
