• verstra@programming.dev
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    29 days ago

    Can someone explain why this is bad? It seems like normal behaviour of corporations.

    Or has spotify previously committed to being a fair market?

    • yesman@lemmy.world
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      29 days ago

      This is like a soup joint that’s trying to see how much they can piss in the broth before customers notice.

      • catloaf@lemm.ee
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        29 days ago

        That would be a health hazard, so it’s not really comparable.

        It seems more like a soup joint using cheaper ingredients in their dishes, which is just… normal? I don’t get what the big deal is.

        • jonathan@lemmy.zip
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          29 days ago

          It’s normal if you accept it. You do not have to accept it. There’s also a good chance that it’s illegal in Spotify’s case, if not in the US then likely in Europe.

            • Avid Amoeba@lemmy.ca
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              29 days ago

              Likely antitrust.

              That said if you’ve gone down the path of reasoning that says things that aren’t illegal are okay, then I don’t know what to tell you.

              • catloaf@lemm.ee
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                29 days ago

                I suppose you could argue that Spotify can abuse its position in the same way that Walmart bullies its suppliers and Microsoft freezes out competition, but it doesn’t sound like that’s what’s happening here. Like I said, it sounds like they’re just preferring cheaper sources.

                • Thassodar@lemm.ee
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                  29 days ago

                  But they aren’t just preferring cheaper sources, they’re funding production houses that crank out music cheaper than it would cost to pay a single artist, and then putting that “mass” produced music on playlists that they themselves promote, allll to avoid promoting actual artists and paying them potentially more than they’re paying the production house.

                  It’s in terribly bad faith because I myself am an artist that distributes through Spotify, not only because I can reach the widest audience, but I’m hoping on some level Spotify is promoting my new music to people outside of my own purview. But they aren’t. They’re flooding the market with cheap music and only promoting it.

                  • catloaf@lemm.ee
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                    29 days ago

                    Okay, that’s shitty for sure, but I’m not sure that it amounts to illegality, at least under US law.

            • sunzu2@thebrainbin.org
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              29 days ago

              This is behavior is anti competitive under both US and EU and member states’ law.

              Issue is the regulatory capture along with strong corporate lobbying on these issues.

              If you are with it, that’s cool. But behavior has historical precedent and it requires the state to set boundaries on the extraction practices

      • mac@lemm.ee
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        29 days ago

        This is a completely disingenuous comparison.

    • CmdrShepard42@lemm.ee
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      29 days ago

      IANAL but it seems akin to the antitrust case against Microsoft for bundling their own web browser in with Windows or movie studios also owning theaters and giving preferential treatment to their own films.

    • jpeps@lemmy.world
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      29 days ago

      I’m just surprised that anyone didn’t assume this was happening. If most people are using playlists generated by Spotify, how are they not expecting Spotify to choose songs that are also in their interest? Furthermore, how would this be different from the practices of a radio station? Seems like manufactured outrage to me.