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Comment by Oculus | Hacker News Reader

I'm not sure this model will work like it did with Youtube. You don't put Youtube on in the background/at a party while friends are over. You sit down and watch a video (hence you're willing to sit through an advertisement). Music streaming that is broken up by advertisements is why people dislike radio and are moving to online services.

The reason artists like Soundcloud is it gives a way to distribute music directly to the fans for free. Anything that gets in the way of that (e.g. ads) is a step in the wrong direction. Instead of attempting to monetize ears/eyes, I'd instead suggest for a premium subscription for artists that gives them enhanced tools to monitor/distribute/track/etc. their music on the platform.

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I'm not sure I agree with the first part of your comment. Spotify already does this, and in my experience plenty of people leave spotify on as background music and/or at a party.

My old roommates did this pretty frequently, and while it was annoying at first to hear ads between songs, as long as they're short enough, you eventually just tune them out.

If anything I'd say that the youtube style ads that play before your content are more aggravating, since you are delayed from actually seeing the content you are trying to watch, much like a loading page is generally a worse experience than a loading content area.

I've heard Spotify ads in cafés/restaurants even...

If I was over at my friends' and they'd play ads at me, I'd complain and ask them to put on some real music. They'd ask the same of me.

(though I wouldn't insist, if someone doesn't know how, or just really wants to hear radio with ads, I'm a guest after all)

> You don't put Youtube on in the background/at a party while friends are over

Yes you do and is the only reason I started using AdBlock. I was willing to put up with everything the internet would throw at me. But then I visited the US once and Youtube had pre-roll ads and mid-playlist ads and whatnot.

Installed adblock immediately after it happened the first time. Now the whole internet doesn't have ads. Good job Youtube.

I second this, I installed Adblock for exactly the same reason - pre-roll ads are intolerable. I honestly don't know how could anyone think that playing 30 seconds of nonsense before letting you see a 3-minute video is a good idea. It's the worst type of ad since popups.

Loads of people put Youtube on the background, and I think that the main reason people are moving to online services is because you can choose what you're listening to (and not hear the same 10 songs over and over again).

I think most people are accepting of ads, especially for a free service. There's always the vocal minority, but free is free.

>> "The reason artists like Soundcloud is it gives a way to distribute music directly to the fans for free."

Although I disagree that that's why artists like SoundCloud this won't change that. Ads will only play if you choose to monetise a track. Don't want ads on your track? You don't have them.

> You don't put Youtube on in the background/at a party while friends are over.

Of course you do. For many people (myself and my family included) this is number one place to go to find music. UX is perfect for a party - you find a random playlist and leave it like that, and any time someone wants to show a particular music piece or video to the group, the YouTube tab is there waiting.

Of course, first thing people do is nuking the pre-roll ads with AdBlock - because those make YouTube annoying and useless at parties.

> I'd instead suggest for a premium subscription for artists that gives them enhanced tools to monitor/distribute/track/etc. their music on the platform

They are already doing that.

I've seen people DJing at parties using two browser windows with Youtube.

> I've seen people DJing at parties using two browser windows with Youtube.

And ? DJing is about mixing music sources seamlessly, wherever they come from.I wouldnt trust the network during a gig though ,but there is nothing shocking in getting your music from Youtube.

Wilfully playing out pirated, recompressed lossy files and calling yourself a DJ is the height of lameness.

If you're going to profit from someone elses work without paying them, try not to make it sound like shit as well.

I doubt anyone DJing stuff from Youtube is getting paid for it.

I didnt say professional djs.

Anecdotally, this is exactly what we did at parties when I was in college.

Oh wow, what an insightful suggestion!

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