OPINION : Spotify waspushing it with podcasts . Now it ’s spamming users with audiobook ads . Themusic appwe bed is idle and it ’s not come back .
lately last month Spotifyannouncedit was further dilute its singular form , very littered app with the addition of audiobooks . Now the society is spamming users with notifications when they give the app seek unfiltered admission to the tunes they pay for .
“ Want to heed to Audiobooks on Spotify ? ” read the telling I invite on Wednesday . No , blighter . I do n’t . Because Spotify is mymusicapp , you see . The ad inform me that I could explore 300,0000 statute title , find out one I wanted to mind to , and intercept the play button for info about how I can buy it . That ’s beyond the $ 16 a month I pay for the family plan that has more recently beencontributing to Joe Rogan‘s Covid misinformation stream , andMeghan Markle ’s banking concern balance .
Yes , I could dismiss today ’s audiobooks notifications and hear no more of it , for now . However , it ’s another annoyance , and the previous roadblock to music that has me ever - flirt with leaving Spotify for good .
I do n’t begrudge Spotify broaden its process beyond medicine , but do n’t do it on my time , and do n’t do it on my dime . A redesign home provender announced in Augustoffered music devotee some respitefrom those podcasts , and it seemed Spotify had hear to the complaint from medicine fans . But here we are again .
Why ca n’t it do what everyone else does and found disjoined apps for Podcasts and Books ? And just allow medicine fans love their subscription without the clutter and interruption within the primary app ?
regrettably , Spotify has zero intention of doing this . In fact , it is doubling down on this notion of a singular catch - all audio app . Last calendar month , the web log announcing the addition of audiobooks called Spotify “ the home for all the audio recording you get laid . ” It add : “ We ’ve always believed that the potential for audio is boundless , and we ’ve been say for a while now that our ambition is to be the sodding package for everyone ’s hearing needs . ”
“ Starting today , user in the US can easy find audiobooks on Spotify alongside music and podcasts as a section in their depository library , in lookup , and in their curated recommendations on Home . ”
Spotify justifies this by say it provides an chance for masses to get into audiobooks , who otherwise would n’t have thought to give them a try . This is insincere . It is simply essay a young revenue flow and is n’t bold or confident enough to make a mark in the sector without mithering their exist customer . Or , the company is just assuming masses will turn up and just purchase them here out of contrivance . Either way , enough already .
For many users , books will literally be the last affair they wish well to see in their curated recommendation , having already spent prison term wading through podcasts . Even after dismiss the ad , I ’m afraid to even tap the audiobooks tab by fortuity , in case the company check it as an invitation to go along spamming .
“ Just go away then ” will be the yell in reception . “ Vote with your pocketbook . ” But therein lies the other problem . Spotify Music user like myself have invested almost 15 years of money and personal data point into this company . The reinforcement for that long investiture is the recommendations engine that come out Modern and live music in parentage with my tastes . It might be Spotify ’s wise use of the information that come on these testimonial , but it ’s mine and I ’ve paid for it .
Why should I sacrifice all that now just because Spotify is ruining my go - to app for euphony ? Why should I bulge out all over again with another medicine service ? Why should the other users of my Spotify Family plan do the same just because Spotify is getting greedy and does n’t have the stones to right shape its own path without sacrifice music ?
