David Fiske Affiliate Marketing & Web Development

I've recently broken into the world of Spotify. Having found myself playing music videos in the background, I thought I'd try something in the same vein, only more appropriate.

It's a fantastic service although it does have some shortfalls, mainly due to age. Here's a few thoughts on what I would do if I ran Spotify!
 
New Music Is Key

The main principle behind Spotify is to let users stream music for free, with the ultimate goal being that they purchase the music to pop onto their iPod or nondescript MP3 player.

Now 73 was released a few days ago but doesn't appear on the track lists yet. It's probably due to the backlog of adding some older stuff but if it were me, I'd focus my attention on new releases. Perhaps once the archive reaches a magic number, the focus will switch to the latest tunes.

Not Enough Dance Music

It's a criticism mentioned on several "telephone Spotify" adverts played randomly. There's not enough dance music. Personally, I'd be looking for Clubland style tracks as well as some "tuuuuuuunes" from artists such as Paul Van Dyk (who only has 3 albums listed).

More Creativity

I find the main drawback of Spotify is the lack of creativity offered. I have many playlists set up so they know what I like listening to. The problem is that this isn't used as fully as it could be. Knowing that I like artist A would be a great way to suggest artists B and C for example. This data could also be used to advertise new albums due for release, of which I think is already being done as a highly relevant artist was advertised a couple of days ago!

I generally find myself having to go onto Amazon to find tracks to search for in Spotify as their suggestions are generally spot on. It would be great to see this sort of creativity demonstrated in Spotify itself.

More Adverts Please!

The frequency of adverts on the free version is perfect. They are discreet yet noticed. The problem is that after a while the same ads are played over and over. British Gas £59 Boiler special offer and Paolo Nutini spring to mind here. I'd like to see more advertisers jump on board.

Such is so, I would be quite happy to fill in a questionnaire about various habits (main supermarket, which type of insurances do I buy, etc.) to help with delivering laser targeted ads to my computer. As Spotify is so new they don't seem to have that many early adopters but perhaps when the recession eases, more cash can be splashed on ads by mainstream companies.

Change The Top Lists

I'd like to see what is popular daily, weekly, monthly and even hourly if that's possible. At the moment I can see a few top lists but I'm not sure the time scale behind these. Plus, there's not much difference between the top tracks, artists and albums as they all seem to equate to one another.

Overall...

Spotify is great. It's got some teething issues in terms of functionality but the audio streaming and audio quality is top notch. The back catalogue is varied and sizeable but there's a long way for Spotify to progress. Hopefully all involved (spotify, 7 digital, the record labels, the artists and the advertisers) will all start to see the perks very soon.

Keep up the good work!