• yesman@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    76
    arrow-down
    18
    ·
    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
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      29
      arrow-down
      12
      ·
      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
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        28
        arrow-down
        7
        ·
        edit-2
        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
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            25
            arrow-down
            4
            ·
            edit-2
            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
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              4
              arrow-down
              4
              ·
              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
                link
                fedilink
                English
                arrow-up
                12
                ·
                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
                  link
                  fedilink
                  English
                  arrow-up
                  2
                  ·
                  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
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            4
            arrow-down
            1
            ·
            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
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      13
      arrow-down
      4
      ·
      29 days ago

      This is a completely disingenuous comparison.