Hello friends of The Hollywood Lawyer! This week we want to place the spotlight on the music streaming industry and how its exclusive per-pay features seem to be encouraging the pirating of music.
Services like Spotify and Apple Music make special features available only to paying users partially for the benefit of musicians. According to The Verge, there are currently 40 million people who are subscribing to these exclusive streaming features. Nevertheless the problem arises when those who subscribe to solely one streaming service see the need to subscribe to another service to fulfill their music-streaming needs — when encountering limitations with their current service.
Among limiting factors that could cause otherwise paying subscribers to resort to piracy are streaming service exclusives and artist opt-outs. Take Drake for example, whose two new singles off his upcoming album “Views” are currently only available on Apple Music, a move that may tempt those who may otherwise not consider piracy.
Additionally, if those users who are already paying for a yearly service (Spotify goes for $120 per year) were to subscribe to another service in their quest for their favorite music, the addition of costs would be more likely to deter them from continuing to be honest paying users of the streaming service or the music.
We hope that the friends of The Hollywood Lawyer abide by what is legal and refrain from the illegal download of music. Nevertheless, we think that it is also important for streaming giants and artists to realize that there may be greater repercussions that may come from making barriers for those who seek to simply enjoy some music. All-inclusive services anyone?
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