Spotify will now suspend or terminate accounts it finds are using ad blockers

Re:Spotify will now suspend or terminate accounts it finds a... by umanwizard on Friday February 08, 2019 @10:05AM (#19114803)

A non-paying customer who doesn't listen to ads has absolutely zero value to Spotify. Why shouldn't they block them?

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Re:Spotify will now suspend or terminate accounts it finds a... by magduf on Friday February 08, 2019 @10:44AM (#19115223)

Because then they tell all their less-technical friends and family that Spotify is shitty and evil and not to use them.

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Re:Spotify will now suspend or terminate accounts it finds a... by umanwizard on Friday February 08, 2019 @11:16AM (#19115591)

If this were a real thing, we'd all be using Linux on the Desktop by now.

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Re:Spotify will now suspend or terminate accounts it finds a... by magduf on Friday February 08, 2019 @04:14PM (#19118743)

I've been trashing Windows for ages too, but there's a big difference here: people who really want to run some particular (usually proprietary) software generally have to use Windows to do that, and Windows has a lock on non-Apple computers for that and for many other reasons.

Spotify doesn't have any kind of lock on music. The Apple fans are all using Apple Music, after all, and there's lot of other choices out there. Ditching Spotify isn't going to affect your life or digital device using in any significant way.

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Re:Spotify will now suspend or terminate accounts it finds a... by simple_phrases on Friday February 08, 2019 @01:44PM (#19117334)

Well it worked on me and I'm usually wary of consumer-facing subscription services.

I heard about Spotify through a musically-minded, but not technical, friend. I joined because of their insistence that it was a good service 3+ years ago.

Today, they complain about the desktop client and ads. I no longer use Spotify.

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Re:Spotify will now suspend or terminate accounts it finds a... by dfxm12 on Friday February 08, 2019 @11:37AM (#19115891)

A non-paying customer who doesn't listen to ads has absolutely zero value to Spotify.

I'd challenge this because they can convert to paid users or advertise the service via word of mouth, or probably provide other value as well (user data, listening habits, etc.).

However, even if these users have zero value to Spotify, then why terminate them? Spotify is getting some negative press over it, so it seems like a net loss for them...

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Re:Spotify will now suspend or terminate accounts it finds a... by umanwizard on Friday February 08, 2019 @11:40AM (#19115934)

> However, even if these users have zero value to Spotify, then why terminate them?

When I go to a restaurant and eat without paying, why do they kick me out?

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Re:Spotify will now suspend or terminate accounts it finds a... by lurchedsawyer on Friday February 08, 2019 @12:16PM (#19116392)

More like "We sent a free pizza to their home. How dare they not eat the pineapple toppings!?"

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Re:Spotify will now suspend or terminate accounts it finds a... by umanwizard on Friday February 08, 2019 @12:28PM (#19116531)

Right, and what’s happening now is Spotify choosing not to send free pizza to those people anymore. What’s the matter with that?

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Re:Spotify will now suspend or terminate accounts it finds a... by lurchedsawyer on Friday February 08, 2019 @01:12PM (#19117021)

Mostly a privacy and ownership issue: Spotify doesn't own the device receiving their service nor are they paying for the bandwidth used for the ad payload, and it's none of their concern how these are used. In the end it all boils down to whether Spotify's right to run a business supersedes a person's rights of ownership.

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Re:Spotify will now suspend or terminate accounts it finds a... by enraged_camel on Friday February 08, 2019 @10:54AM (#19115338)

Because non-paying customers have the potential to become paying ones.

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Re:Spotify will now suspend or terminate accounts it finds a... by mynameisvlad on Friday February 08, 2019 @11:23AM (#19115695)

But without some incentive to do so, they won't. If they're already getting around basically one of the biggest dealbreakers for the Free tier (the ads), then there isn't really incentive to pay 9.99 a month when they're already getting essentially the same service for free.

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Re:Spotify will now suspend or terminate accounts it finds a... by umanwizard on Friday February 08, 2019 @11:15AM (#19115584)

Plenty of businesses don't give away free samples, and survive fine.

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Re:Spotify will now suspend or terminate accounts it finds a... by fucking_tragedy on Friday February 08, 2019 @03:38PM (#19118416)

Obviously Spotify sees value in offering a free tier to their service.

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Re:Spotify will now suspend or terminate accounts it finds a... by umanwizard on Friday February 08, 2019 @04:12PM (#19118714)

Yes, the value is that they make money from it through ads.

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Re:Spotify will now suspend or terminate accounts it finds a... by fastball on Friday February 08, 2019 @04:25PM (#19118841)

*most businesses.

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