Thieves get rich, and saints get shot, and God don't answer prayers a lot. And free online music-streaming services may not be as benevolent as you thought. Thanks for that, Spotify.
Spotify currently supports its free music-streaming service with adverts - every 10 songs or so, you hear an audio advert, and there are also less intrusive visual adverts. Most people don't have a problem with the ads, figuring that it's a small price worth paying for free music. Spotify's popularity is exploding.
But we now know, thanks to a revealing interview that you can watch at the Guardian's website, that Spotify is planning to increase the creepiness factor, if you will, of its advertising model. It's exploiting the demographic information it has on each user, together with playlist information, to 'serve' adverts that suit that person's age, gender and even mood.
Listening to Mozart and knocking on a bit in years? Perhaps you'd like to hear about our range of life-insurance options while you're nicely relaxed. Young, male and giving the Wu-Tang Clan a few spins? Anger management courses if you please.
Nick Drake aficionados, meanwhile, could have a public service announcement every 10 songs advising them to cheer up and not take life so seriously.
Well, we're sure they'll work out the details.
Thing with this is that people are funny about having the details of their personal habits flogged to advertisers. Look at the hoo-ha surrounding the Phorm targeted-advertising system, which helps to serve ads based on victims' browsing habits. There's a feeling that this sort of thing betrays the trust users have in a service, selling them down the river for a quick buck.
One way of looking at this is that, if anything, it'll mean that you get adverts for products you might actually like, which ought to be less boring. Another is that it's no one else's damn business what music I listen to; yet another would be that there's something truly hateful about advertisers profiting from the emotions brought about by cherished records.
Music is supposed to be spontaneous, to surprise, excite and move you, not put you in a mood to consume products. Just imagine some advertising flunky rubbing their opportunistic hands together when they look at your favourite upbeat playlist. (Yes, I know that's not how it works.)
Ultimately, however, we get the music industry we deserve. Significant segments of the music-consuming public have decided that it ought to be free, but without thinking through the consequences of that. It's a zero-sum game: the money required to produce music has to come from somewhere. If none of us are paying for the music directly, the advertising has to be effective, and we're all getting too canny for the normal stuff to be cost-effective. Which is why we now seem to be living in the Orwellian action thriller Minority Report. "Your futuristic ID chip tells us you like to buy Gap V-necks, Mr Cruise. The child sizes are over there."
Talking about Phorm, Tim Berners-Lee has insisted that his data and web history belong to him. "It's mine - you can't have it," he said. "If you want to use it for something, then you have to negotiate with me."
Spotify provides free music in return for listening to adverts, but its targeted ad system changes the deal. Maybe its time to renegotiate. Unfortunately the only way for us to do that is to stop listening - and what are the chances of that?
Comments
DurexSux said: If it means my kids wont get commercials for booze and explicit Durex ads on how people like their sex and how the condom will speed up or slow down your orgasm then fine Maybe thats their point in playing such tasteless ads Get you pissed off so you welcome the targeting
Jake said: Personally Id rather get target adverts than random ones
Funny that said: someone who presumably is paid by a site that provides content free in return for delivering ads targeted at tech consumers is espousing a pay-for content system i assume either David Price is out of step with what is going on at PCadvisor or were going to be asked to pay for content
DO you even have broadband? said: if you dont like it go to another ISP Hmmm In another 18 months when ur contract is up have you ever tried breaking a broadband contract do you know how hard it is to migrate even out of contract
David Price said: RightMalcolmF Just because its voluntary doesnt mean they can do whatever they like And Webwise will be voluntary too if you dont like it go to another ISP The payment issue is irrelevant since Webwise will be part of the overall package of signing up to an ISP presumably the cost will be lower or the gains will get back to the consumer in some way but if not take your business elsewhereMoses Heres one thing I dislike about Spotifys system the way it finally explodes the myth which I was rather attached to that songs are about anything other than selling products Will labels encourage acts to make songs that fit into specific ad-friendly mood categories I liked it when bands at least pretended it was about artistic expressionMinority Report thanks for the permissionBryan Smith thanks grandadWorldofsteve ha haKeep the comments coming you crazy Spotify fanboys
worldofsteve said: speaking as someone who had Ivor Cutler on Spotify interrupted by condom ads as untargetted for me as could be this strikes me as BETTER frankly -
Bryan Smith said: ill-informed teenage drivel
Minority Report said: Grow up Price what a waste of space this article is If you dont think Spotify is a good deal dont use it Plenty of us will
Moses said: Why is the Phorm style advertising structure despised by so many including the author Personally i would rather listen to an advert based on something that might actually interest me not that they ever persuade me anyhow I also dont see peoples apparent problems with your song history being stored for this to work It is not exactly confidential personal information now is itPhorm to me seems a perfectly viable system another little step in the evolution of the web
MalcolmF said: Spotify is providing a service which requires paying for by some means and is use is purely voluntary on the part of the customers who see and presumably ocasionally act on adverts that are selected according to iformation received No problemPhorm on the other hand is a parasite I say this because I am already paying my ISP to provide my service I do not expect my personal details to be flung around the world If I am to have somebody reading MY paper over my shoulder I expect them to share the cost of buying it If they cant afford to do that let them go find a proper job that will allow them to do soAs to them being related - so what Most families have their black sheep and Phorm has gone out of its way to show itself in this category or at least has failed to cover its past tracks adequately
If you want to pay direct said: great but the rest of Web has decided that they want things free so the ad based model has to work which means targeted ads are the future at least spotify is being honest about it youd be on better grounf if anyone agreed
Alex said: A fair point but you cant blame Spotify for using every trick in the book even if slightly creepy to persuade more users to follow ads and support their sponsors Its no different to how Google target their ads based on your Gmail inbox contents Nothing new going on here
David Price said: And Alex - I dont use any ad-blockers But you might want to consider how checking stuff out actually pays for anything in the long run For ad-supported models to work somebody needs to be actually buying the stuff thats advertised
David Price said: Webwise is a proposed service not an implemented one Whether or not it tracks your internet activity will depend on your choice of ISP Like with Spotify youll be able to get out of it by switching to a competing service although switching ISP is clearly a bigger decision than just going back to iTunesAs for the radio adverts yes - its the same principle In the same way that Phorm are following the same principle as tech websites carrying tech adverts Its the same thing done in a far more sophisticated and personalised way exploiting details about the individuals habits for monetary gain You dont have to be outraged by it it may indeed be juvenile to expect anything else in a world of ad-supported free content but Im intrigued by the fact that Phorm are public enemy no 1 and Spotify arentAnd no again I realise that Spotify have to make money and no I dont think they should give away music for free Personally Id rather pay for music directly
Alex said: Maybe its just me but I dont see the problemI bet the author of this article also uses AdBlock and avoids adverts at any cost whilst still expecting to be handed free services which cost hard money to provideIm not personifying myself as a saint but I often click adverts in Spotify and check the stuff out - even if I couldnt care less If it supports the free service that Spotify provide me with for 6 hours each day I dont think my time is entirely wasted
check ur facts said: Thanks for your reply David but you really havent got it Webwise by Phorm is tracking your personal internet activity whether you like it or not and harvesting your personal details whether you agree with it or not its a new controversial development Spotify plans to target ads at certain genres or moods of music Thats just the same as a radio station that plays young peoples music advertising at young people and frankly expecting anything else is juvenile Its not even as intrusive as Googles contextual ads Or would you like to select the adverts yourself Perhaps Spotify should give you musicfor free
David Price said: Theres only one thing worse than Sensationalism Haha and thats Bad Sensationalism Still Im glad were on first-name termsTo the adults thanks for the comments and I agree that Phorm and Spotify are different cases but I believe they are strongly related As I explain in my final paragraph Spotify is giving us a product in return free music that we think is worth the exchange which makes it far less odious But just because youre getting something in exchance doesnt mean you have to like the deal and the targeted advertising which most users wont have known about when they signed up may put some people offMake no mistake Spotify is using your data - it just happens to be the songs you listen to as well as your demographic details instead of the websites you visit
Haha said: I find it quite funny that all the comments are about what a rubbish journalist you are David Sensationalism is deeply vile Bad sensationalism is pathetic
Joe said: Two very very different companies Spotify looks at the music you play and in return gives you free music So both side winPhorm looks at ALL OF YOUR INTERNET TRAFFIC This traffic is not between you and phorm but some 3rd party So phorm are intercepting it Spotify cannot intercept anything as the comunication is only between you and them
NO LOVER OF PHORM said: Youre talking about two different things Phorm is stealing data Targeting adverts by mood is no different to PC Adviser putting adverts for laptops on reviews of laptops