So the other day I signed up for Spotify Premium again after finding out about how TMobile would let you use the service without accumulating data charges. But I canceled, again, once I remembered, again, all the dumb bugs and stupid quirks in their software (accidentally erasing the current play queue when clicking on an artist, recently played artists not reflecting actual play history, etc.). Spotify is terrible, in more ways than five or six. Still, the industry is moving towards these streaming services and I won't be surprised if they ditch the free service all together, maybe replacing it with just a radio service with advertisements. I just hope they pay the artists (not the labels) better than they do now.
It amazes me how Spotify seem quite uninterested in improving their crummy client software. You'd think they'd consider that a priority, given that it controls everyone's experience of the service. Throughout the whole lifecycle of Windows 8 they haven't even bothered to make a client that works on Windows touchscreens. Both the Windows and Android versions are confusing to use, there's no good "play me some music I'll like" function, and there's no easy way to report broken or miscategorized tracks. People have been complaining for years and they have done nothing. it's very puzzling. Surely they can afford some designers and developers?
Yes, i'm all for streaming services, but this free version can't be good for artists.
Maybe they will move to artist radio only for the free version in time. I'm wondering if google music/deezer and other streaming services who don't offer a free tier pay the labels/artists more then spotify does, because i don't believe they make $10 per user per month on those ads (which can be blocked in the webversion).