Music Platforms : A report

by Michaël Leroux

Music is almost everywhere we go : at the mall, on the radio, in the streets, etc. Its accessibility
is so easy, that most of people go with the easy options : Spotify and Apple Music. Although,
these platforms are some of many. In addition, if you are pro-equity, an artist or just someone
that cares about culture, you may not want to encourage these worthy company. The recent
legal proceedings toward those giants might make people think twice before consuming music.

The comparison of three platforms will give consumers an idea of what to be aware when
acception a user's contract. Also, it will encourage them to think before using their
consumption's power, a conscious choice, is the best decision.

*Notes are attributed based on the relation between the company's content and the company's respect
toward artists and users.*

Apple

Apple is one of the first company that started to distribute music. It sells CDs and also proposes
a membership (15$/month) which grants access to all the music available on Apple. The
membership sounds like a bargain, this is why most of people choose this option. Some others,
who want to encourage an artist, will take the decision to buy the CD for less money than in a
store. Although this may sound like a good deal, artists and consumers may suffer from this.

When an apple user agrees to the contract, he also agrees to giveaway all the information
available on his device, computer or phone. Apple makes a lot of money with the information it
owns. In addition, when someone buys a digital CD on Apple Music, he is paying for an
insurance, the user pays the rights to have the file on his computer, he does not pay for the
actual content. This means that Apple keeps the right to remove the file whenever it wants. It
also means that the user does not really own anything except of an access.

Apple's contract has been the center of a lot of controversies. It has also been proven that they
slow their phone so people continue consuming. It is similar to the model they have created for
music. The company wants people to consume regularly, to the detriment of artists and to the
detriment of the consumers' privacy.

On the upside, the platform has a huge content, the biggest of all platforms. It is also really
simple of use, music management is easy just like finding and discovering music. However, this
is mostly for the popular culture, Apple doesn't encourage emergent artists, it doesn't encourage
its users to discover unknown, underground groups.

Note : 7/10

Spotify

Spotify is the most recent platform and the most popular of them all. It has 70 million paying
users (15$/month) worldwide. It has a wide range of music content, although, not as much as
Apple Music. It only offers the subscription model or a free version with commercials. It is really
easy for artists to get their music on the platform, however, the company pays them about a
quarter of a cent per stream. It is good for visibility but it is not a viable return for musicians.

Just like Apple Music, Spotify's contract includes a section in which the user agrees to grant
access to all the information available on the phone. From text messages to pictures, the
information does not belong to the user. The company makes money on information just as
Apple Music and Facebook do.

At the moment, Spotify is being sued for unpaid royalties to many artists. In fact, Spotify only
pays for half the rights on music it is distributing. The rights on the recordings are paid, while the
rights on the composition remain unpaid. The lawsuit claims $1.6bn for the unpaid rights.

Spotify still has a lot to offer. It is good for discovering new artists, It has playlists and a
discovery section which are a good way to discover new songs. It is also simple to use,
although it is visually less attractive than Apple's design. It is also available on all devices
contrarily to Apple Music which can not be downloaded on Android phones. It is also the only
company that offers a free option for its users.

Note : 6.5/10

Bandcamp

Bandcamp is a recent platform created in 2007 that has the mission to support artists get to be
known and live from their art. This is the platform that takes the lowest rate on their sell, so more
can go the the artists. Each artist has his own pay rate, this means that the artist itself decides
how much his work is worthy, most of the time it is cheaper than buying an album in a store or
on Apple Music, since it does not require the intervention of a label company.

To continue, the user's contract does not grant access to all the information on the device, it
grants access to medias only, this means that pictures, conversations and automatic logins
remain unknown to Bandcamp. This respects the users' privacy rights on their phone or
computer.

This platform has a lot to offer to its clients. It has the best discovery system of all platforms, it is
designed for discoveries. In addition, there are many ways of accessing to new songs on
Bandcamp, it can be with styles, with artists, with keywords, with the year of production, etc.
The music management has a simple and bright design. Also, artists have a page for the
presentation of their album of their band, it is a unique feature that is not available on other
platforms. Finally, bands can sell physical content on their page, such as posters, another
feature unavailable on other platforms.

Note : 8/10

Other

There are a few other platforms available such as Amazon Music, Google Play Music, Tidal,
Deezer and Soundcloud. All of which have particularities. Most of them offer the same low
return for artists, however, some of them are artist friendly. They all have different user contracts
which should be read before choosing a platform.
Music management is also similar, trying them all is the best way to find out which one works
the best depending on the user's music needs. When it comes to choosing, do not only consider
the price and popularity, a conscious choice considers artists, privacy and access to new
content.

All in all, music platforms are the future even if their model has yet to be perfected. CDs are still
a great way to encourage an artist, it is also a way to really own music and to be sure not to get
into user contracts, but it tends to slowly disappear, being replaced by technologie. This report
shows that popularity also hides unwanted features, hidden malware. It also shows that
consumers should try to encourage artists directly, the intervention of big companies leads to
unpaid rights, which is basically stealing. The consumer decides to who he wants to give his
money : the artist of the billion dollar company, it's a matter of choice. Bandcamp and
Soundcloud are artist friendly platforms, their model are somehow ideal, however they do not
provide as much as access to music as Spotify or Apple Music. A platform joining the best of the
two worlds has yet to come, until then, a well thought choice is the way to go.

Sources

-Dredge, Stuart, "Spotify VS Musicians : 10 Things to Read to Better Understand the Debate",
The Guardian (online), https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/jul/29/spotify-vs-
musicians-streaming-royalties

-O'Grady, Sean, "Those of s with any Sense of Morality Should Hate Apple- So Where's the
Boycott? ", The Independent (online), https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/apple-tax-paradise-
papers-boycott-iphone-cult-steve-jobs-tim-cook-a8041071.html

-Beaumont-Thomas, Ben , and, Rushe, Dominic, "Spotify Sued for $1.6bn in Unpaid Royalties
as it Reportedly Files for IPO", The Guardian (online), https://www.theguardian.com/technology/
2018/jan/03/spotify-sued-for-16bn-in-unpaid-royalties

-Bandcamp, "About Us", Bandcamp (online), https://bandcamp.com/about