Spotify is the music service I use to satisfy my musical
entertainment; however, the amount of advertisements makes it seem as if I
listen to satisfy Spotify’s advertisers.
The goal of keeping the listener entertained has been clouded by the
goal of promoting businesses, artists, and ideas. The
increasing rate of advertisements on this music streaming service makes it seem
as if it is not a music service, but a device designed to brainwash the minds
into buying the ideas and products of the advertisers. My music is interrupted every five songs by
the upbeat voice of Flo from the Progressive Insurance commercials or the pleading
tone of the FDA anti-smoking messages or thirty seconds of information on other
musicians; all stealing my precious time for entertainment.
This advertisement streaming service uses music to
attract its listeners. It draws you in
with the promise of your favorite music and traps you into a bombardment of
promotional broadcasts. While listening on
the mobile app the ads are spread out between songs, a thirty second ad every
five songs, but then it becomes a thirty second ad every three songs increasing
the rate. However, the music keeps you
there and keeps you listening to more and more advertisements. The music is just a method of entrapment;
without the music the advertisements would only find another source to relay
their messages and Spotify would cease to exist. Spotify, like all media sources, requires
advertisers to keep running. Therefore,
media outlets cater more to the advertisers rather than the viewers. The desires of the listeners are pushed down
by hands of businesses promoting their products.
The use of Spotify on a computer or laptop is no
better than on a mobile device. While
the advertisements are less frequent between songs, my screen becomes
suffocated by advertisement banners. Up
to 3 promotions can clog my screen at once; beacons advising me to “Choose your
own style at JC Penny” and to “Listen to the hottest new tracks from your favorite
DJs” all tear me away from my original intent for opening Spotify. I log into Spotify to listen to my favorite
songs, but instead I am ambushed by messages from numerous corporations.
Advertisements have taken over the media. While they seem to be a small price to pay
they take up a significant portion of time in our lives. On Spotify alone I am subjected to at least 4
minutes of advertisement every hour of listening. That is four minutes of companies branding
their information onto my brain. Advertisers
have crippled the media into dependence on their ads and Spotify has not eluded
this crippling.
Thanks John. This is a fairly well written response. I respect the fact that you have unambiguously supported my proposal that media agents actually work for the corporations. You even go so far as to call Spotify an "advertisement streaming service." I like the edge. However, although I proposed the question, I'm not 100% sure I agree with your answer. In your conclusion, you write that Spotify contains four minutes of advertising for every hour of music. This doesn't strike me as that much, especially considering that most television broadcasts are over 30% ads. You need to be careful to make sure that your evidence supports your claim. I'm not sure that all of your readers will agree with your logic.
ReplyDeleteAlso, here is a quick writing tip: you might think more carefully about writing with the second person pronoun. Your second paragraph is a bit awkward because you write about "you" and not "I." This reader has never used Spotify, so it is a bit odd for me to be reading a post that directly addresses me. The pronoun "you" should not be used in formal writing to denote a general audience. That is not precise writing.