Re:Spotify's Beta Used 'Pirate' MP3 Files, Some from Pirate Bay
by rchaud on Friday February 28, 2025 @10:24AM
(#43206612)
The difference is that Grooveshark was always a pirate product, and didn't try to hide it. The UI had rough edges, but the library was massive, just like the old Napster era. Spotify was a growth hacker startup bro project, influenced by iTunes.
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Re:Spotify's Beta Used 'Pirate' MP3 Files, Some from Pirate Bay
by unyttigfjelltol on Friday February 28, 2025 @10:54AM
(#43207025)
So maybe without Grooveshark there would be no Spotify?
A different context for the proverb "I don't have to outrun the bear, I only have to outrun YOU!"
Re:Spotify's Beta Used 'Pirate' MP3 Files, Some from Pirate Bay
by rchaud on Friday February 28, 2025 @10:59AM
(#43207089)
They way I would describe it is, one wolf aspired to domesticate itself, the other remained wild and died by the law of the jungle.
Re:Spotify's Beta Used 'Pirate' MP3 Files, Some from Pirate Bay
by lukan on Friday February 28, 2025 @11:04AM
(#43207144)
Hah, I rather would say one of the wolves got strong enough to play with the big dogs. And is now making the rules of the music jungle biz.
Re:Spotify's Beta Used 'Pirate' MP3 Files, Some from Pirate Bay
by Yeul on Friday February 28, 2025 @12:30PM
(#43208161)
Disagree. Spotify is not a wolf. The people who actually OWN the content are the wolves. And that is still the music labels.
If Spotify was really the wolf they wouldn't have to pay Universal billions. Not that much has changed really.
Re:Spotify's Beta Used 'Pirate' MP3 Files, Some from Pirate Bay
by rchaud on Friday February 28, 2025 @02:15PM
(#43209203)
Spotify had a big library of fully licensed music as early as 2008 in European markets. They were the next evolution of the record label-friendly post-Napster music startups.
They were already the teacher's pet. Grooveshark was the one that was always getting suspended, before ultimately being expelled.
Re:Spotify's Beta Used 'Pirate' MP3 Files, Some from Pirate Bay
by rchaud on Saturday March 01, 2025 @09:18AM
(#43219442)
A dog can be brought to heel and will comply because it prefers the warmth of the campfire to the cold of the wilderness. A wolf will do wolf things until it dies. Or in this case, is hunted into extinction.
Re:Spotify's Beta Used 'Pirate' MP3 Files, Some from Pirate Bay
by albedoa on Friday February 28, 2025 @11:32AM
(#43207469)
Then I'm not sure if this is a great example of the survivorship bias. One company tried to hide the piracy, the other didn't. One company operated from piracy-friendly countries, the other operated from a piracy-hostile country.
Survivorship bias is when two cases face the same selection process, not when one fails for taking an opposite approach.