I have had my account suspended “again” due to Spotify saying “come to our attention of unauthorised use of Spotify” – Being accused of “unauthorised copying” NO I Don’t – I download using a SPOTIFY CONVERTER” – A LEGAL Technicality ? – I note that there are dozens of converters including SPOTIFY CONVERTER itself. If ALL these Providers are able to “CONVERT SPOTIFY” what is Spotify’s issue/problem – NOT getting money from the converters??
My “converted” is downloaded/loaded into WMP only – so my main question is which of the so CALLED Spotify Converters is best to use – WITHOUT ANY issues with Spotify cancelling account (Mine’s Premium or it Was) – The converter I use I have noted was NOT listed in the so called “Top 7 – 8 – or 10 list” of apps. What is the massive BEST recommendation I can use TROUBLE FREE.
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Mike_H says
Whatever the terms of your Premium contract with Spotify, they consider use of these converters to be in breach of it. and act accordingly to stop you.
There is a legal fine line between possession of software and using it to breach the terms of a contract you have with another party.
I noted that the Converter I looked at (First one to come up in a Google search) claimed it could rip tracks for you whether you had a Premium or a Standard account. Ripping tracks from a Standard account would most definitely be a breach of contract. The ability to download and listen offline is a feature that Premium users pay extra for. If Converters can all be used in this way it’s no wonder Spotify doesn’t like them.
Ainsley says
The problem, of course, is that the converters are not the same as paying a premium subscription and being able to download Spotify tracks. The converters allow you to keep those downloaded tracks regardless as to what happens with your subscription. Even If you pay a premium subscription and download, those downloads are still not available to you if you stop paying your premium subscription. I presume that any converter is always going to be at risk of getting your account suspended.
If you must do this then have you tried using the converter at normal speed? Surely that way Spotify won’t be able to tell whether you’re converting or listening?
dai says
Yeah, it’s basically stealing so they aren’t going to be happy about that
pencilsqueezer says
To put it bluntly using third party software to rip files from a streaming service for permanent storage whether you subscribe to that service or not is theft. Most if not all the streaming services allow the downloading of files to a device for offline listening if you pay for that service via a subscription. That ability to listen offline ends when you cancel your subscription which means you no longer have access to those downloaded files.
fentonsteve says
Spotify is a rental subscription. Pay for subs and they allow you to download DRM*-protected files to listen to offline.
You don’t own those files. Stop paying your subs and you will no longer be able to play them.
Supplemental question: If you are happy to pay your Premium subs, and you can download files to listen to offline, why would you want to copy them? Assuming you are happy to continue paying the subs, you will continue to be able to play them.
(*) Digital Rights Managment
Baron Harkonnen says
Spotify accuses users of thieving💥🤣💥
Now that is an oxymoron if ever there was one.
pencilsqueezer says
Spotify haven’t accused anyone of theft. They have refused access because of a breach of their terms and conditions. Which they are perfectly entitled to do as it’s clearly laid out in those terms and conditions which you agree to abide by when accessing their service. In other words Spotify whether you like the service or whether you don’t are acting legally but Jack unfortunately is trying to game the system and is intentionally breaking the law.
MC Escher says
Plus that isn’t an oxmoron 😉
Lodestone of Wrongness says
I’m going to say this for the xtieth time: Spotify isn’t ripping any artists off. We are.
By ‘we’, I, of course, mean the General Public. Napster & Co made illegal downloading possible. Ordinary Joe said I’ll have some of that.
It soon became clear that most people are happy to legally pay ten quid a month to access (almost) everything ever recorded. Ten quid, no more. Charging fifteen quid for one CD is for nerds who inhabit obscure internet blogs.
dai says
Yes
davebigpicture says
I think the dominant record companies are doing ok from Spotify
Mike_H says
Purely by the amount of their material on it.
If you’re an artist with just the one 10-track album on Spotify, you might just earn the price of a cup of coffee every year. If you’re a label with 100,000 albums on Spotify, 30 of which are in the top 100 of dowloads, week after week, you’ll be doing all right.
dai says
People like Taylor Swift or Billie Eilish do fine. They are getting “billions” of plays which equals millions of dollars
davebigpicture says
Well, I didn’t mean to suggest that the label’s artists are benefiting, quite the opposite in fact. There are allegations of labels keeping a disproportionate amount of Spotify payments as well as still making ridiculous deductions for packaging.
Jaygee says
Labels gonna label.
Twas ever thus
fortuneight says
Exactly this. But it would seems it’s not going to stop the usual suspects shouting the odds about Spotify being so evil (they paid out $7bn in royalties in 2021 the thieving bastards) whilst at the same time still buying CDs and vinyl from the very music labels that are continuing to rinse their artists.
MC Escher says
Err, fine, Lodes, cool. All I was saying is that what Baron Harkonnen posted is not an oxymoron.
Mike_H says
I suspect downloading music with Converter software without playing it in their app messes up Spotify’s counting of plays, which impacts the rights owners when it comes to them getting paid their pittance-per-play.
I imagine Universal, Warners and BMG/Sony will not take kindly to that and will insist Spotify stamps down on Converter users if it detects them.
dwightstrut says
I refer the OP to Spotify’s T&C’s which includes the clause: “You agree to abide by the Spotify User Guidelines and not to use the Spotify Service, the Content, or any part thereof in any manner not expressly permitted by these Terms”; section 2 of these Guidelines reads “…copying, reproducing, redistributing, “ripping,” recording, transferring, performing, framing, linking to or displaying to the public, broadcasting, or making available to the public, or any other use which is not expressly permitted under the Agreements or applicable law, or which otherwise infringes intellectual property rights”.
If you are in breach of the above, you have agreed that Spotify can suspend your service. Your only recourse is to argue that you are not within a technical breach which, given the above clause is quite deliberately framed as a “catch all”, is unlikely to yield the results you seek.
Your question therefore becomes: “What is the converter least likely to be detected by Spotify”; or, to put it another way… “How can I break the legal agreement I have voluntarily entered into without being caught?”
moseleymoles says
I’m getting a Proustian flashback. Kazaa when I worked out the internet costs in 2001 or so meant each download cost not much less than it would to buy it legally. So only used for bootlegs etc.
Grooveshark, and that one where you could upload and ‘sell’ your mp3s to someone else. Kind of like an early version of NFTs. Except of course you could keep another copy.
Junior Wells says
Surely by playing a real time feed you could digitally record that output. Slow and time consuming but that is how we all killed music by home taping.
hedgepig says
I have had my liberty suspended “again” due to the power company saying “come to our attention you have been running a copper cable to your house from a pylon through your bedroom window” – Being accused of “unauthorised stealing of electricity” NO I Don’t – I bypass the meter using a “COPPER CABLE I BOUGHT IN HOMEBASE” – A LEGAL Technicality ? – I note that there are dozens of cables including one CONTAINING THE WORD ELECTRICITY itself. If ALL these Providers are able to “CONDUCT ELECTRICITY” what is the power company/police’s issue/problem – NOT getting money from me literally thieving from them in broad daylight?? Weirdos. My “freedom bypass cable” is only use to power my kettle and enormous vibrating tungsten butt plug – so my main question is which of the so CALLED cables is best to use – WITHOUT ANY issues with the literal police locking me away for 5-10 – The cable I use I have noted was NOT listed in the so called “Top 7 – 8 – or 10 list” of cables. What is the massive BEST recommendation I can use TROUBLE FREE.
Mike_H says
Also, think of all those people on zero-hours minimum-wage contracts pedalling away on the power company’s generator bikes.
How can they be paid, if people are just taking the electricity without paying for it, using Copper Cables.
Junior Wells says
Have you got any recommendations for enormous vibrating tungsten butt plugs? Asking for a friend.
pencilsqueezer says
Boris Johnson springs readily to mind.
Junior Wells says
nearly sprayed my beer Pencil.
Mike_H says
“Now wash your hands”.