[ae_keji]

Spotify pays artists as much as piracy does, in many cases, while be socially acceptable and normalized.

For example, I got a book at Barnes and Noble the other day, and when I responded to the cashier's pitch for a Barnes and Noble card with something like "No thanks, I get most of my books through torrents", they looked at me like I was trying to talk about the taste of baby meat. Your average content consumer pays for media, and there is no definitive evidence pirates would pay for music and media if free downloads were not available. Spotify, on the other hand, is targeted at those people who would normally buy music, and offering a cheaper alternative that also pays the artist substantially less (almost nothing, in some cases).

[relaytheurgency]

I see your point and I guess I hadn't thought of it like that. In my case, I pay for Spotify as a replacement for pirating. I probably buy more music now in a physical form now that cassettes and records have become available. I would point out that the reason I pay for Spotify is not due to the access to music (I could get most of it for free online), but for the convenience... I can't store all the music I want to hear on my phone and I don't want to run a Plex server or whatever 24/7 to deal with that problem (let alone buy a bunch of drives and fill them with music!). I also appreciate the curation they provide (the Discover Weekly is a regular source of artists I've never heard of before), so I think there are some intangible benefits to the artists from Spotify beyond the meager pay. I've definitely gone to shows based solely on having heard an artists on Spotify.

I'm not sure how sold I am on the idea that Spotify converts more people away from buying music "the old fashioned way" than it does convert former pirates into now (meager) paying customers, but I can definitely see it as a possibility. Unfortunately buying music sucks. Having to keep track of, discover, and store music (in any medium!) sucks. Especially if you aren't a collector of some kind. Spotify/Google Play/Apple music make that easier and that's why people are going to pay for it.