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Spotify Used 'Pirate' MP3 Files In Its Early Days: Report (torrentfreak.com)
According to Rasmus Fleischer, one of the early The Pirate Bay figures, Spotify used unlicensed music in its early days. From a report: "Spotify's beta version was originally a pirate service. It was distributing MP3 files that the employees happened to have on their hard drives," he reveals. Rumors that early versions of Spotify used 'pirate' MP3s have been floating around the Internet for years. People who had access to the service in the beginning later reported downloading tracks that contained 'Scene' labeling, tags, and formats, which are the tell-tale signs that content hadn't been obtained officially. Solid proof has been more difficult to come by but Fleischer says he knows for certain that Spotify was using music obtained not only from pirate sites, but the most famous pirate site of all.
... Pandora: Your one true source of legitimately paid for music.
Which has more power: the hammer, or the anvil?
When your proof is restricted to " but Fleischer says he knows for certain " you have no proof and you should probably refrain from slandering a company with more lawyers then you.
Sorry, teleporters just kill you and then make a copy. A perfect, soul-less copy.
So, despite my sig, I browsed TFA.
It appears the only evidence provided is that one artist who had chosen to distribute via The Pirate Bay turned up on Spotify. Oh, and also a Pirate Bay dude saying "oh yeah, I know this is a fact".
That argument seems kind of tenuous. It's like saying that all of my music was downloaded from artists' websites simply because I own Radiohead's "In Rainbows".
#DeleteChrome
And we care...why?
At this point is is one of the top music sites, loved by millions. SOmehow I really doubt any of those millions will go "Oh Fuck. God, now I can't listen to Spotify any more because they cheated in the beginning. Back to 45s for me".
Now a better story would have been of Spotify used the blood of RIAA executives to perform a dark ritual that helped them get the funding they needed to make it a viable business.
Life is a great ride, the vehicle doesn't matter
I worked in IT at XM when it launched and we spent a lot of time hunting down these shadow-IT caches of of MP3s. Mad props to them for taking it seriously even back 16 years ago.