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Spotify Is Cracking Down On Users Pirating Premium-Like Service (torrentfreak.com)
People who access Spotify using hacked apps that remove some of the restrictions placed on free accounts are receiving warning emails from the company. Noting that "abnormal activity" has been observed from the user's software, Spotify warns that future breaches could result in suspension or even termination of a user's account. TorrentFreak reports: "We detected abnormal activity on the app you are using so we have disabled it. Don't worry -- your Spotify account is safe," the email from Spotify reads. "To access your Spotify account, simply uninstall any unauthorized or modified version of Spotify and download and install the Spotify app from the official Google Play Store. If you need more help, please see our support article on Reinstalling Spotify." While the email signs off with a note thanking the recipient for being a Spotify user, there is also a warning. "If we detect repeated use of unauthorized apps in violation of our terms, we reserve all rights, including suspending or terminating your account," Spotify writes.
Read this. It was written almost 20 years ago. There have been no technological developments since that alter the main thesis of the essay, nor will there be. Further, this has been known to every ethical software engineer for at least as long ("ethical" in this case meaning, "Will not lie to your face about what is technically feasible").
Anyone on your engineering staff claiming not to be aware of these truths should be dismissed immediately.
Editor, A1-AAA AmeriCaptions
"The problem is that Jane controls her computer."
Here is where the war is currently. Add in phones and tablets and other walled off closed ecosystems and you can see this is a bad road where freedom doesn't exist.
Hence their right to suspend the accounts.
You invite someone over for dinner and they steal your cutlery and napkins.... what do you do? Stop having people over for dinner?
As with any service, there are always going to be people who abuse it. And it's not just Spotify that suffers, its the artists that suffer the consequence of their material being pirated.
Despite having payouts to artists as low as 0.006c per play Spotify is still running big losses. At the other end of the line artists complain about Spotify's pay out rate. It's strange how many people can be fans of a band, love their music, love the band, and then take actions that scr3w them over.
Spotify has a vast amount of music to listen to from all sorts of genres from all round the world, and they give people access to this amazing service for free at the cost of listening to an ad or two. But that's not free enough for some people!