e·nig·ma [uh-nig-muh]  noun, a puzzling or inexplicable occurrence or situation: Spotify is such an awesome service for Indoor Cycling Instructors, it's an enigma to me... why so few Instructors are actually using it.
Or maybe it just looks that way. I'm basing my comment on how few subscribers we see to published playlists.
If you're using Spotify click on the People tab and select another user at random. Check out the number of subscribers they have to any of their published playlists. Even for all the popular Master Trainers I'm connected with, 40 subscribers is a big number for any specific playlist.
I found this playlist of club music on the right that Cameron Chinatti is subscribed to. It has over 57,000 followers.
Why is that?
I was trading emails with contributor Chris Hawthorne, discussing this "enigma" of what appears to be a very small number of Instructors using Spotify... or more specifically; Instructors using Spotify who take advantage of the phenomenal music sharing and new music discovery, that's available to users.
I realize that there are multiple reasons users don't want to share their Spotify usage. You may also view a playlist but not choose to "subscribe" to it. Maybe you listen to a few tracks, find one you like and drag it into one of your own playlists.
Here's an example. Krista Leopold (aka: groupfitpower) and I created these collaborative Spotify playlists and posted them at pedal-on.com. Collaborative playlists allow anyone to add their own favorites = they grow to fantastic Best Songs Lists that you can use to easily & quickly find the perfect track for your next class.
I built my Epic Blue Ridge PRO/Playlist using songs I found on these lists.
Best Cool Down Songs
Best Interval Songs
Over two hundred visitors have viewed these lists.
Collectively they have over 275 great tracks.
The most subscribers to any playlist - 16
Sixteen is less than 10% of the number of Instructors who have visited the page.
So again, why is that?
I'm thinking there's more to it... and if its an issue of understanding or the need for more education, we want to help.
So we've created this short survey to understand more about your use of Spotify... if you use it at all.
Totally anonymous if you choose - please take a few minutes and let us know your experiences with Spotify.
Originally posted 2013-02-10 12:43:16.
John is a member on the AFS (Association of Fitness Studios) Advisory Council.
Holding certifications from; Schwinn, Heart Zones, Team ICG and Life Time Fitness, John's held regularly scheduled cycling classes between 1998 and 2015 when he moved to Florida.
When the weather permits, you'll find him riding and leading outdoor groups by himself or with his Tandem partner (wife) Amy.
- ICI Podcast 238 Meet Nerd Fitness Creator Steve Kamb - April 6, 2024
- ICI/PRO Podcast #113 Explosive Power pt 3 – Video PROfile with Tom Scotto from Stage 5 Cycling - March 31, 2024
- Spinning RideBook of class profiles - March 28, 2024
This is a very simple issue. One pays too much and one does not own anything. The moment you stop paying is the moment you loose access to your songs on your mobile devices and start getting annoying commercials. I think that the cost is to high.
The only saving grace is the ability to share playlists. But for that I do not need to pay. In my opinion that is the best use for Spotify.
I rather pay for Pandora to listen to tunes on the go. Better yet, use Songza which is free and has proven to be a good source for good spin songs. Paired these sources with emusic and I can OWN all the music I need for my playlists.
Alan I should have done a better job splitting up the; Use Spotify – which is free… and; Spotify Premium which costs $$ and you’re right disappears from your phone 30 days after you stop paying.
I’m not seeing as much free use of Spotify as I expected.
Help me understand why you would pay for Pandora vs. Spotify? I don’t see any advantage to Pandora > actually a lot less control vs Spotify.
And I agree with the Songza part – I have it on continuously 🙂
We’re from two different camps on the Own vs Rent debate. I view music as perishable = it loses value over time.
Case in point; I bought a new Dell last fall and restored all of my files (including 7K MP3’s) to the new hard drive via carbonite.
To this day I still haven’t bothered to import them into iTunes.
I’m not familiar with how Songza works, but I’m guessing it’s similiar to Pandora.
I think the beauty in Spotify is that instructors can create their own playlists to use in their cycling classes with the Premium membership. That’s not something you can do with the free membership or other free streaming services like Pandora.
I agree with John about ‘renting’ the music. I don’t mind that idea at all. I can listen to it anytime I want to and I’m still paying considerably less than when I was purchasing music to own on iTunes and other music sites.
John that you would not import the music you already own into iTunes onto your new computer really doesn’t mean anything. It is stored on carbonate. Someday – and that day may never come – you can import to iTunes if you need to.
I don’t know the future of Spotify, Pandora, Songza and other ‘free’ music. But I’m willing to bet iTunes will be around as long as Apple is a company. For that reason people who write apps that use music libraries only write for iTunes because it is stable, around for the long term and because the device owners paid for that music there are no DRM issues.
At least two contributors to this site have developed apps that use ones iTunes library. One of those apps I use five days a week on my iPad to teach my eight classes. Many have said I rely too much on it and that is true. But Spotify cannot compete with that. Frankly neither can iTunes.
I have been a Spotify Premium Member almost as long as John. I have subscribed to some other playlists and made my own. I am not a power user and have no intention of going there.
As I have stated here on ICI/PRO that membership has saved my butt a time or two when the only access I had to music was my Spotify account and my iPhone. For that reason I keep my membership.
That said, when I consider that I almost always carry two back up sources for music (iPod Touch and MacBook Pro) I wonder why I spend the money at all.
Chuck except for converting my Podcasts from .wav to MP3’s and adding the metadata – iTunes is dead to me…
Today! It is dead to you today.
John, the reasons I prefer both Songza and Pandoras to Spotify is very simple.
With Spotify I must know what songs I want. There is a lot of work involved in creating playlists and so on. Where in Pandora and Songza I just seed a station and let the music come in. I get really great songs from that strategy.
Also, Pandora is way cheaper and my family uses it as well.
Another service worth considering is last.fm – It is also a seeded playlist service.
And when it comes to cost I rather pay $36/year for service than $120.00 for work.
I hope that this answers your question.
I also forgot to mention that I was one of the early adopters of Spotify and the support for my phone was short of horrible. The app kept crashing and short playing songs and their support was pretty much useless. After 3 months of suffering thru that I cancelled my account and all of my stuff went away.
So that drives me to another point – you have no control over the service and what it does to you and your songs. On the reverse side, when you own your songs you are in charge. You can use iTunes or any other player, you can make mixes and playlist, you can organize your library on iCloud and whatever else.
FWIW, Spotify also has a “radio” feature, and I’ve used it quite a lot and found some great music that way… You can also import music you own into your Spotify playlists, so using Spotify doesn’t in any way restrict you from utilizing music you have previously purchased. I have playlists with hundreds of songs I’ve culled from Spotify in just a few months time. If I had purchased that music, the cost would have been astronomical. But I have access to all of that music for only $10/month. For me, it’s well worth it… I DO miss the ability to edit music (mixmeister), but if I really want to, I can still edit music I own and pull it into a spotify playlist, but haven’t done that too much.
John – I don’t know if you’re communicating with the Spotify folks at all, but one thing that might be useful (from my perspective) would be the ability set cross-fade time for each track in a playlist individually – that would give me pretty close to the same control as mixmeister…
Alan, I am a more recent adopter, and haven’t experienced any of the problems you had (app crashing or short playing songs, etc.) I am able to organize and make mixes and playlists however I see fit, and use spotify on multiple devices – computer, phone, ipod, android tablet, etc. – so I don’t really feel like it’s limiting my access in any way.
Jennifer you make a good point about early vs late adopters. I too had a number of issues with the earlier version of Spotify on an iPhone S3.
I don’t think anyone is in communication with Spotify with the exception of the record labels and big brand advertisers.
I started using Spotify last March, based on info I got from this site. I got a Premium account immediately, and I love it. I have not had any trouble with Spotify–ever. I use it on my iPhone and iPod for my classes.
Learning about Spotify from this site is the #1 reason that the cost of membership to ICP/PRO is worth every penny. The membership paid for itself in less than a month, based on the dollar amount I would have spent if I had been buying music from iTunes for my class playlists (one playlist from iTunes averages about $15!).
I believe the original question you asked with this survey was this: “a very small number of Instructors using Spotify… or more specifically; Instructors using Spotify who take advantage of the phenomenal music sharing and new music discovery, that’s available to users.”
For me, the main reason I don’t subscribe to the playlists ICI/PRO provides, honestly, is that I like only about 20% of the music on the playlists that come with the audio profiles that have Spotify playlists. Like you said, I drag the songs I DO like to my own playlists. Considering the playlist and the profile as separate components, out of all the audio profiles provided, I’ve used only two “as is” (Zendurance and Taste of the Tour). For all the rest, I modify, modify, modify. They are great inspiration and a point of departure for me to create my own playlists and profiles. But many of them have music that I just don’t like, and/or they involve complicated, Power-based profiles that don’t resonate with me or my students.
With that said, I want to reiterate that I love ICI/PRO. I’ve learned way more here than I ever learned in my certification class for indoor cycling. But you asked for feedback regarding the low Spotify adoption rate, so I’m giving it. 🙂
John, I completely agree with this comment that you made:
>I view music as perishable = it loses value over time
That’s what I love about Spotify . . . the ability to constantly renew my playlists and keep them fresh. I guess I’m just easily bored, and a song loses its ergogenic force the more times I listen it. I assume the same is true for my students, so I constantly change my music. Spotify makes having fresh playlists not only economically feasible, but just plain easy.
I have no qualms about potentially losing my playlists if Spotify goes belly up. I keep the lists of songs in my Spotify playlists in an Excel spreadsheet, so I know what every one of my Spotify playlists contains. However, I also know that I eventually won’t care, because I’ll be sick of the songs. If Spotify goes away, I’ll use the next great music service to make fresh playlists.
Last but not least, the number-one praise I get from my students is that they love my music. The next most-common feedback I get is that my classes are extremely motivating and fun. I think that much of the credit for that praise goes to Spotify and to ICI/PRO. 😀
I started using Spotify about 2 months ago and it has been awesome. The biggest reason I like Spotify is that it has allowed me to try many new songs that I would have never tried if I had to pay $1.29 each for them. I can load up on songs in my playlist and listen to them during the week and then decide if I want to include them in my class. Many times I will not include them after listening to them. When that happens it is nice to know that I didn’t buy the song. Like Linda above I am also very picky about my music and I only take a few songs from the playlists that are provided. Keep them coming I like going through the playlists on ICI/PRO.
I have experienced zero problems using Spotify in class. My only minor complaint is that there is no time counter for your playlist. I have to do the time math in my head when I am building the playlist. Overall, not that big of a deal.
Brian I hadn’t thought of that, but what you say makes perfect sense. Beyond saving you time, Spotify removes the stress caused by seemingly small purchase decisions – do I really want this song? What’s it sound like at the end? Will it be worth $1.29?
It’s interesting to note that iTunes recently increased the length of their samples to 1:30 vs the :30 they offered previously.
Or it may have been that way for a long time – I just went there to check and it’s the first time I sampled a track in iTunes in a very long time.