Spotify Ltd.

The Top Ten Douchiest Drummers of All Time

By Nate Jackson What would music be without a beat, a rhythm or a backbone? Though they qualify as the first instruments ever created, the drums are probably the last thing most music fans can live without. And while we worship plenty of drummers in modern music, there are some Gods of Thunder who ... More >>

Why Does Spotify Keep Ripping People Off?

By Emily Lundquist Ten dollars a month is a small price to pay for practically every piece of recorded music except The Beatles. Which is why, late last year, I signed up for Spotify. Only two months in, however, I was out, and feeling like I'd been ripped off. Turns out I'm not the only one. See ... More >>

Streaming Services Like Spotify and Pandora are Destroying Music

The law of unintended consequences is far-reaching. It's easy to see how it applies to things like medication, the environment, and Prohibition, but it also applies to the advances in the computerization of music over the past decade. The proliferation of the use of streaming services such as Spotif ... More >>

2013 RFT Web Awards Winners

It's been said that employees engaging in social media while at work cost the U.S. economy $650 billion a year in lost productivity. That's $4,452 per company, and it doesn't even factor in the economic losses from plain, old Web surfing. Throw that into the mix, and good lordy: No wonder the econom ... More >>

Holy Ship!! Wrap-Up: It Was the Best of Times....

There were a lot of grim faces on Monday morning as the electro-loving masses emerged off the MSC Poesia -- a.k.a. the EDM party boat Holy Ship!! -- and did a slow zombie shuffle through U.S. customs and back into the real world (a.k.a. Fort Lauderdale). Here in the industrial port, the sky was over ... More >>

The Future Is Fine: Streaming music isn't evil, it's just different

How Has Streaming Changed the Way Albums are Made?

In this week's feature, Dan Moore talks about the way our music-listening habits have changed over the past century, all the way from live performance to instantaneous streaming of 99% of all recorded music. He asks a number of good questions. Among my favorites is this one: "Why listen to the worst ... More >>

What are the Legal Rights of a Compilation Curator? The Debate Over Yellow Pills: Prefill

This week's RFT Music feature story is about St. Louis power-pop connoisseur Jordan Oakes and Chicago label Numero. Mike Appelstein unpacks their disagreement over a compilation album Oakes curated and Numero released in 2003. See also: -Pain Pills: The heated copyright debate over a St. Louisan's ... More >>

For Christmas, What do you Get the Music-Loving Acquaintance who Already has Nothing?

Deep inside Spotify headquarters, at this very moment, some poor marketing team is tasked with the idea of making Spotify gift accounts sound like a good idea for a Christmas present. I know this because I am too cheap to pay to make the Spotify ads go away. So far they've been wise enough not to ... More >>

Stands for Something: The dB's pop hasn't lost its power

A.C. Newman at the Duck Room, 10/29/12: Review and Setlist

At its core, rock & roll is a simple art form. Though at times, AC Newman piles layers of sounds and effects to gain the aesthetic he's searching for, the three minute pop song still conveys everything he needs. In the last decade-plus, the prolific songwriter has honed his wide array of pop skills ... More >>

Does Spotify Mean the End the iPod and Your Music Collection?

When I bought my first iPod--this was the first iPod, when the scroll wheel actually spun around--it was a severe blow to my nerd-cred, which I guarded pretty jealously at the time. (It was the only cred I had.) Relying on iTunes and its untouchable database to maintain my MP3 collection, instead of ... More >>

All That Jazz

The 18 Best Fans, Musical Moments and Trends at LouFest 2012: Day Two

18. We Remembered to Check The Weather Forecast Soak us once, shame on you, Mother Nature. But soak us twice, and we better be either 1) drunk enough not to care and/or 2) having an intimate slow dance in the rain. Umbrella or not, the diagonal downpour that cut Dawes' set short and delayed Dr. Dog ... More >>

Olympics 2012: Theme Songs for Michael Phelps, Hope Solo, Usain Bolt and More

Music is becoming an increasingly personalized art form. Smart phones are programmed to play a favorite song as a ring tone, or to play a song meant to be associated with specific callers in one's contact list. I can't say for certain, but I have to imagine many husbands have "Ball and Chain" by Soc ... More >>

What's Really Wrong with Hip-Hop?

Editor: Tef Poe is an artist from St. Louis City. Through powerful imagery and complicated honesty, he has earned a reputation as one of the best rappers telling the story of St. Louis, which is about much more than one place. Poe has been featured in music publications such as XXL and Urb Magazine. ... More >>

Vinyl Sales Rose by 71 Percent in 2011

​It's not often that the world of music sales numbers brings us good news these days, so savor this moment. In the U.S last year, overall music sales rose nearly 7% -- that includes albums, singles and downloads (both audio and music videos). Vinyl was up 71%, digital song sales were up 10% an ... More >>

Google Music: The Future Home of Independent Musicians?

There has never been one place you could go to find out everything you needed about any band anywhere. Imagine: One resource that operates like an instantaneous card catalogue for current music. Among the many that have tried, none has the potential of Google Music Artist Hub. Google Music made it ... More >>

Spotify's US Launch Approaches; Which Music Service Are You?

​Music fans in the United States don't have a lot to envy of their European brothers and sisters, at least unless they're big fans of Abba or the kind of sticky, glitter-covered dance-pop that usually just makes me really want to leave the youth hostel and brush my teeth. One exception: Spotif ... More >>