I was trying to try out a streaming music service called Spotify, which is apparently not available in the United States.
Why is Spotify not available in my country?
Dear Spotify Visitor,
Thanks for dropping by…Here at Spotify we believe that Everyone Loves Music, that’s why we aim to legally bring all the worlds music to everyone, everywhere and are currently working really hard to achieve this. While Spotify is not currently available in your country we do hope to launch in more places in the future. Until then you can catch up on all the latest news at Spotify blog and for more information on Spotify, please see our Frequently Asked Questions or our Press page for the journalists out there.
Unfortunately, due to licensing restrictions we are not yet available in your country. We understand that you are currently in United States (your IP address [removed by me]). If you believe we have made a mistake, we apologize and ask that you please contact us at support@spotify.com.
Which I guess means I didn’t do this. Ooops. Well, Indiana can be part of the United Kingdom for today, or….something. Shit, I dunno.
Anyway, it seems most of the tracks available on Spotify are sold on a site called 7 Digital for the equivelent Euro price of USD $1.23 per track (typical US price is 89-99 cents per track on most MP3 stores), also seems that the US version of the 7 Digital store is missing large chunks of the MP3 offerings from their UK store. (Including from American bands!)
I suppose this is ultimately what happens when a music store has to deal with a 7 layer digital salad ;) of every kind of crazy fucked up licensing deal.
What is no doubt at play here is that some bands have different companies that are sub-licensed to distribute their Imaginary Property in the UK, and also apparently take a 25%~ markup bite out of the ass of anyone who buys it in the UK. The company that owns the Imaginary Property distribution rights in the United States obviously haven’t given their store the right to sell the exact same MP3 file they sell internationally.
I’ve got one for you. What do you call a bus full of RIAA executives and lawyers going over a cliff? A good start. (Oh, you wanted a joke? Sorry, I was being serious)
