blue note launches spotify app

[Eric]

Very cool!!

[JSngry]

I'm already tired of condom commercials interrupting my jazz listening.

It's like going to the bathroom at a club!

[Pete C]

I also like the way the app can start to make sense of some of the haphazard tracks on those ridiculous compilations from bloodsucker labels with no knowledge of the music who are just cannibalizing the European PD market.

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

I can't quite get my head round the idea of just listening to some music once, then having to find it agan a few days later and a few days later and so on. Is that not the idea of this spotitfy thing?

MG

[Quincy]

I can't quite get my head round the idea of just listening to some music once, then having to find it agan a few days later and a few days later and so on. Is that not the idea of this spotitfy thing?

MG

No, you can save playlists (or whole albums as playlists) so you should be able find & play whatever you want when you want. Your own music on your computer that isn't on Spotify can be accessed through the program as well. Why not try it out - the ad supported version is free.

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

I can't quite get my head round the idea of just listening to some music once, then having to find it agan a few days later and a few days later and so on. Is that not the idea of this spotitfy thing?

MG

No, you can save playlists (or whole albums as playlists) so you should be able find & play whatever you want when you want. Your own music on your computer that isn't on Spotify can be accessed through the program as well. Why not try it out - the ad supported version is free.

I'm thinking about it. At present, I've got a great deal of recently acquired music to listen to, without taking up more time with Spotify.

MG

[A Lark Ascending]

It's easy, MG.

It's been in the UK for 2 or 3 years.

I have to say I use it occasionally but still prefer to have a 'thing'. Don't want to spoil the excitement of hearing a new disc (or download) blind. Pure materialism, I suppose.

Good for previewing something you are unsure about.

[Pete C]

I think Jimmy Smith accounts for about 1/4 of all Blue Note albums from 1956-60. He was a real cash cow.

[Big Wheel]

I think Jimmy Smith accounts for about 1/4 of all Blue Note albums from 1956-60. He was a real cash cow.

Sort of. Several from this period were not released until the mid-60s or later. Even Back at the Chicken Shack sat unreleased for 3 years! JOS probably had a plurality in this period, but if you combined Silver/Blakey and their sidemen during this period (Mobley, Morgan, Fuller, etc.) it would probably be a similar number.

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

Even Back at the Chicken Shack sat unreleased for 3 years!

I think this is a misunderstanding. There's no question that that album languished in the way that many BN albums remained unreleased for a long time.

'Back at the Chicken Shack' and 'Midnight special' were recorded at the same session, in April 1960. One of them had to be first. 'Midnight special' was released in December 1961. Within a few weeks, it was on the pop album charts, peaking at 28 and staying on the chart for 51 weeks (the single was an R&B and pop hit, too). In the meantime, JOS had recorded 'Bashin'' for Verve and that album (which was released in mid 62) also made the pop charts (#10 and 34 weeks from June '62) as well as the single of 'Walk on the wild side'.

Alfred and Frank would have had to be out of their minds to release 'Back at the Chicken Shack' any earlier than they did. In fact, it entered the pop chart shortly after 'Midnight special' dropped out and a couple of months before Jimmy's Verve follow up, 'Hobo flats' was released in May '63.

There are a great many BN albums for which the releases were held up for no apparent reason, but this definitely ain't one of them.

MG

[Big Wheel]

All true, no doubt-was simply pointing out that there was plenty of prime JOS material that BN wasn't actually cashing in on in 1960.

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

I think in 1960 BN were cashing in on 'House party', 'The Sermon' and 'Home cookin''.

Plenty of JOS to cash in on at all times, though those albums weren't hits. Chuck has mentioned elsewhere that he was working at Jazz Record Mart in those days and sold a LOAD of those two.

MG

[JohnS]

Sounds interesting but if I have to join facebook to get it then it's no thanks.

[Shawn]

Very nice app, I checked it out last night and I think it's very well done.

You can create a free email address under a fake name and join Facebook with that, nobody said you have to be honest on the internet.

[Big Wheel]

One error I caught on the app: the original album and CD of Further Explorations of the Horace Silver Quintet included the original version of "Melancholy Mood," but this track isn't showing up in the app's version of the album - even though it's on Spotify along with the rest of the record. Maybe a goof with a de-duping algorithm (since the same tune, though a different version, appeared on the CD versions of Blowin' the Blues Away)?

Also, BfB, do you know if EMI has any plans to upload material that was OOP on CD before Spotify launched? One example would be Pete La Roca's Basra, which has now come out twice in the US but was hastily deleted and still isn't on Spotify. Another example is some of the Rare Grooves and later records like Candido's Thousand Finger Man - it was deleted from the catalog not too many years ago.

Hoping they haven't done something dumb like destroy digital masters as soon as the production runs end - if they haven't, it seems like it would be pretty trivial to just put that stuff up for streaming too.

[bluesForBartok]

Thanks to all on this thread who've taken the app for a spin. I really appreciate the kind words & feedback. I'll reiterate, this thing is by no means perfect but it's off to a solid start and the plan is to keep improving on the experience both functionally and w/ content updates.

@Big Wheel, I had the wrong "Further Explorations" release mapped to the app but I've since updated. You should see the correct version now w/ the inclusion of "Melancholy Mood." Thanks for catching that!

RE: OOP material, yes I'm working through that w/ the team that deals w/ getting EMI / BN releases cleared and ingested into third party partners such as Spotify. What I've found as I've worked through this process so far is that there are a number of albums such as Basra, Thousand Finger Man, Ghetto Music, and countless others that are indeed in Spotify (see links below) but do not appear to be cleared for the US. Digging a bit further, I'm discovering that in most cases, the mechanical licenses have been cleared but for some reason or other, the metadata has not been updated and sent to Spotify. I'll be continuing to work through theses issues so there's going to be lots of incremental updates over the next several months.

Basra -

Thousand Finger Man -

Edited September 23, 2012 by bluesForBartok

[brownie]

Thanks to all on this thread who've taken the app for a spin. I really appreciate the kind words & feedback. I'll reiterate, this thing is by no means perfect but it's off to a solid start and the plan is to keep improving on the experience both functionally and w/ content updates.

Any chance of sharing all this without having to enlist at Facebook?

Obviously there are a number of people here (and elsewhere) who do not want to join FB!

[bluesForBartok]

Thanks to all on this thread who've taken the app for a spin. I really appreciate the kind words & feedback. I'll reiterate, this thing is by no means perfect but it's off to a solid start and the plan is to keep improving on the experience both functionally and w/ content updates.

Any chance of sharing all this without having to enlist at Facebook?

Obviously there are a number of people here (and elsewhere) who do not want to join FB!

Hey brownie,

Is that still a requirement? I thought they had opened that up. I think you can sign up w/ a email acct. here: https://www.spotify.com/au/signup/plain/

[CJ Shearn]

MG thanks for that information on JOS. Now, "The Sermon" and "Houseparty" you said were not hits, were they considered more musician centered/hardcore fan Jimmy Smith records compared to others? I could see how "Groovin at Smalls", "Club Baby Grand", and "At the Organ" would be of less interest to people who might have liked the typical blues based tunes like "Bubbis", BATCS and "Midnight Special".

[Chuck Nessa]

Streaming services are just another way for copyright owners to squeeze a few bucks from their holdings without regard for the composers and performers. Big guys ignoring the folks who made them possible.

[bluesForBartok]

Streaming services are just another way for copyright owners to squeeze a few bucks from their holdings without regard for the composers and performers. Big guys ignoring the folks who made them possible.

Wasn't this the same sentiment when the CD replaced the LP and Cassette? I won't argue that digital music can be a rather cold experience but it's what we're dealing with nowadays and as someone in the digital space, I am doing what I can to help make the experience a more welcoming one.

I would like to hear you provide more detail on your "squeeze a few bucks from their holdings without regard for the composers and performers" statement. Unless you have the documentation to substantiate this, I'm not sure how you can make such a sweeping statement. I'm sorry but it just sounds like sour grapes to me.

Granted, I'm not advocating for the major label system here. We all know it's fraught with issues. I can tell you as someone from the inside, there are passionate people within those walls that care about the composers and performers. In it's own little way, the BN App is a attempt to place all of that disparte content into a centralized experience with the goal of increasing the amount of streams per track / album and in turn generate more revenue for the label and the respective rights holders.

[brownie]

Thanks to all on this thread who've taken the app for a spin. I really appreciate the kind words & feedback. I'll reiterate, this thing is by no means perfect but it's off to a solid start and the plan is to keep improving on the experience both functionally and w/ content updates.

Any chance of sharing all this without having to enlist at Facebook?

Obviously there are a number of people here (and elsewhere) who do not want to join FB!

Hey brownie,

Is that still a requirement? I thought they had opened that up. I think you can sign up w/ a email acct. here: https://www.spotify.com/au/signup/plain/

I still get:

You need a Facebook account to register for Spotify. If you have an account, just log in below to register. If you don't have a Facebook account, get one by clicking the 'Create an account' link below.

[Big Wheel]

Thanks to all on this thread who've taken the app for a spin. I really appreciate the kind words & feedback. I'll reiterate, this thing is by no means perfect but it's off to a solid start and the plan is to keep improving on the experience both functionally and w/ content updates.

Any chance of sharing all this without having to enlist at Facebook?

Obviously there are a number of people here (and elsewhere) who do not want to join FB!

Hey brownie,

Is that still a requirement? I thought they had opened that up. I think you can sign up w/ a email acct. here: https://www.spotify.com/au/signup/plain/

I still get:

You need a Facebook account to register for Spotify. If you have an account, just log in below to register. If you don't have a Facebook account, get one by clicking the 'Create an account' link below.

Try scrolling down. In the US at least, there is a link far down the page that says "OR....create an account using my email address". They must have some partnership with Facebook where they are trying to drive new Facebook registrations in exchange for integrating with Facebook so tightly, so they've made the flow for signing up without Facebook not-very-obvious.

Thanks for the info, BfB, much appreciated. If we see more bugs is it OK to report them to you on this thread or would you rather us PM them to you? I've come across a couple of weird UI glitches but am still checking into whether it's the app or some other issue with Spotify causing it.

[brownie]

Try scrolling down. In the US at least, there is a link far down the page that says "OR....create an account using my email address". They must have some partnership with Facebook where they are trying to drive new Facebook registrations in exchange for integrating with Facebook so tightly, so they've made the flow for signing up without Facebook not-very-obvious.

Many thanks for ponting this out, Big Wheel!

Went to the bottom of the page and linked successfully without going via Facebook

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

MG thanks for that information on JOS. Now, "The Sermon" and "Houseparty" you said were not hits, were they considered more musician centered/hardcore fan Jimmy Smith records compared to others? I could see how "Groovin at Smalls", "Club Baby Grand", and "At the Organ" would be of less interest to people who might have liked the typical blues based tunes like "Bubbis", BATCS and "Midnight Special".

Dunno what people thought of them in the late fifties - it was before my time and anyway Britain ain't the best place to learn what people in Newark or on the South Side of Chicago thought. There was a thread somewhere which dealt (perhaps a side issue?) with popularising the jazz organ with black audiences. As I recollect, Chuck came in to say something like lots of black guys were buying 'Sermon' and 'House party' from Jazz Record Mart and turning them in a bit trashed after a while. Those long tracks are good for parties, just before the partygoers got the Redd Foxx and Moms Mabley LPs on. Same as Kenny Burrell's 'All day long' and 'All night long' and a lot of the groove tracks on Gene Ammons jam sessions on Prestige, particularly 'Blue greens 'n beans'. (I suspect JOS' version of 'All day long' would have been another, but perhaps people would have taken it off when 'Yardbird suite' started, though it does have a nice groove, so I don't know.)

A 'Blue Note for Parties' would be a nice selection.

MG