When I was in China before, I can listening lots of music by use some music software, and I can listen all songs that they have and download on my phone or computer for free. But after I came to UK, I can’t use the software because the demand of partnership and region restrict, so I use Spotify now.
Spotify is easy to use, and it is very successful in music field right now. At the first time, I found out I just can listen music online, listen 30 mins ad free music, and I just can play the music list randomly, so I paid for Spotify Premium. People can try Spotify Premium for 30 days for free, and only 9.99 pounds per months after that, they have student discount by the way. It can make you play any songs and download the music then listen offline. Especially I can listen music with no ads, and better quality music.
If the music in Spotify are under strict copyright control and shared under a creative commons license, I think more people will use Spotify although huge amount people already use Spotify and Spotify premium just make listen music more convenient. If Spotify can download freely without paying, I think some people will take advantage of music of some singers, they will spread or share the music on the internet, it might be offend some singers.
Network Society and the Media 
I dont know about you, but i have talke dto people who have found ways around spotify and spotify premium. For example, you can make a spotify premium account many times and just cancel it and write your bank details again when it expires. Or, people most often just illegally download music. I feel that artists are thus no longer appreciated and the quality of their music goes down with this. Their reputation through illegal downloads is no longer the same of that as paying for a premium account on sites such as spotify.
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I’ve always loved Spotify because of my passion for music, but I’ve never been a customer of their’s. I know that £9.99 isn’t a lot, but as a uni student under a tight budget I simply can’t afford it. I have a few email addresses so have been able to get a few free trials, but as easy and enjoyable as it is to use, I don’t continue to become a paying customer. Now I just use YouTube and SoundCloud to listen to music, but I do wish that artists’ music could be more appreciated. I know this would happen if perhaps their prices were lowered, but then again their prices are understandable, just not for everyone.
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I believe that spotify, under a Creative Commons license, would be heaven for users and hell for artists. It has already been a headline that this service isn’t too “friendly” towards artist, especially less known ones. I think sometimes we forget that the artists and producers of the songs we love to listen to make a living of that same content so we expect to have free (or low cost) access to it. When we’re talking about people like a Justin Timberlake or a Rihanna, it’s fair to think “they don’t need the money” but most artist, when they start their careers, aren’t rich and do need to sell music.
Spotify is great for us consumers if our favourite artists allow their music to be in it.
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