Spotify Bans Ad Blockers In Updated ToS (theverge.com)

In an updated Terms of Service policy sent out on Thursday, Spotify is now explicitly banning ad blockers. "The new rules specifically state that 'circumventing or blocking advertisements in the Spotify Service, or creating or distributing tools designed to block advertisements in the Spotify Service' can result in immediate termination or suspension of your account," reports The Verge. From the report: The service already takes significant measures to limit ad blockers. In a DigiDay report from last August, a Spotify spokesperson revealed that the company has "multiple detection measures in place monitoring consumption on the service to detect, investigate and deal with [artificial manipulation of streaming activity]." After it was reported last March that 2 million users (about 2 percent of free Spotify users) were dodging ads with modded apps and accounts, Spotify began cracking down by disabling accounts when the company detected abnormal activity. Users were sent email warnings and given the chance to reactivate their accounts after uninstalling the ad-blocking software. In some rare cases where the problem persisted, Spotify would terminate the account. The new Terms of Service, which go into effect on March 1st, will give Spotify the authority to terminate accounts immediately, without warning.

Comments

Banning ad blockers will never work

[WCMI92]

And is the last gasp of a company that is destined to die. People will not put up with ads in the locations and quantity that publishers and marketers want. Nor should they have to.

Re:Banning ad blockers will never work

[JustAnotherOldGuy]

And is the last gasp of a company that is destined to die. People will not put up with ads in the locations and quantity that publishers and marketers want. Nor should they have to.

Bingo.

First they load the site with enough ads to annoy me, then they take steps to make sure they can continue to annoy me. This is not exactly a recipe for success.

Re: Banning ad blockers will never work

[Anonymous Coward]

If you want money from your users, put the product behind a paywall. It is that simple.

Re: Banning ad blockers will never work

[EzInKy]

They don't prefer ads, that's why they block them.

Re: Banning ad blockers will never work

[Darinbob]

However ads are dangerous and lead to other issues. Once there are ads the company will now want to have targeted ads to maximize income, or just add more and more ads to maximize income, outsourcing the ads to a third party that they can't control, etc. On computers these ad services are main vector for malware.

An online music service should theoretically be better for the consumer than the radio in the automobile. There we are allowed to changed the station instantly when an ad comes on and we're not being tracked by what stations we prefer.

Re:Banning ad blockers will never work

[Cito]

I use the open source dns server "Pihole" : https://pi-hole.net/
Blocks all ads at the dns level for all devices on my network. For others I use Firefox with ublock and noscript extension to block spammy and malware scripts, and I use the extension Decentraleyes which protects privacy by evading large delivery networks that claim to offer free services, and added protection against trackers and browser fingerprinting.

Re: Banning ad blockers will never work

[Zocalo]

Active user figures. Look at the way the stock values of social media companies react in relation to changes to userbase - FB and Twitter evaluations have both taken a tumble because they failed to meet expected user growth targets, not just revenue targets; they're ultimately ad-companies so they *need* as many eyeballs as possible. It's also a risk; those users are going to go somewhere, and what happens if that somewhere becomes the Next Big Thing? Pretty sure Spotify doesn't want to become the next MySpace...

Guess who won't be using Spotify?

[JustAnotherOldGuy]

Q: Guess who won't be using Spotify?

A: Everybody.

Sorry, but if you prevent me from using an ad blocker you're basically preventing me from visiting your site. That's just how it works, nothing personal.

So long, Spotify, and don't let the door hit you on the way out.

Re:Guess who won't be using Spotify?

[crgrace]

If you're using their free service but blocking ads you are actually costing them money because they have to pay for the songs they stream.

So it is probably best you not use the service. Spotify isn't a charity.

Paying for a subscription is much better option

[TuballoyThunder]

Provided that the pay service performs demonstrably better. I don't have anything against advertising, but I think it is irresponsible that businesses outsource advertising. Not only have they handed over their revenue generation to someone else, but they have no control over the buffoonery in the ads.

Customer respect

[presearch]

A long time ago, a founder of a very large software company (still in business BTW but not with him) told me
he was against copy protection (and banned the use of it in the company) because you owe everything to your
customers that pay and should disregard people that don't pay you anything.

I thought that was an enlightened approach, and still do.
That company is now neck deep in the software-as-a-rental model and the long paying customers feel screwed.

I think they auto find another cad package...

Re:Users ban Spotify

[Luthair]

Seems like a net benefit for Spotify, currently you're costing them money on bandwidth and streaming fees, if you stop using their site you'll cost them nothing.

Wonder how it will deal with network level blocks

[linuxtelephony]

I'm on a network where the admins have blocked many/most ad servers for security reasons (ad companies have historically been tricked into serving malware with the ads).

I wonder how Spotify will deal with that. This is not a block on the app, or the device, or even the computer, but rather at the network level. If their ads are served by the same servers as their content then it should be fine, but if their ads are served by separate servers that are already on a blocked list then it could be an issue. And not one the user can control unless they switch to a different network, if available, or disable wifi and use mobile data. If they shut down my account for this then so be it, because I won't use my mobile data just for them when wifi is available.

Barney the Purple Dino Sings....

[pslytely psycho]

You block me,
I ban you,
we just roll around in poo,
singing "Pay for it or don't block ads,
as we are a bunch of cads..."

It's our right,
even if it's wrong,
So get it on and bang a gong,
If you wanna listen to your favorite song,
You are forced to suck upon the corporate dong,

Then I don't need Spotify.

[Chas]

Sorry, but ads are, unfortunately, a transmission vector for malware and compromise code.

I do not choose to open my systems to that.

And, even if I did, it's MY desktop real-estate, not the ad purveyor's.

If they wish to lock me out of their service? C'est la vie.