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Comment by thecoffman | Hacker News Reader

I disagree on it being priced too low. I realize that in some sense, they have to play to cards they are dealt by the labels - but 10 bucks a month is far too much for streaming music. If Netflix can stream unlimited HD video for 8 bucks a month, there's no (technical) reason audio should be more expensive than that. The only thing holding them back is the politics of the music industry. IMO, a fair price point for streaming audio has to be < 5 bucks a month at the high end. The marginal cost of a song being streamed is basically zero at technical level.

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I knew someone would mention Netflix for comparison -- the problem is that I think they're too inexpensive as well :)

Mind you, as a consumer I'm not complaining about low prices. It's awesome. But I'm also mindful of the economics --

I pay $50+ / month for my cable TV subscription. I don't like it. I'm not "happy" about it. But you know what -- I haven't cancelled it yet either, so something's keeping me there -likely the 'flip channels' factor, which is nice and brainless, and the availability of live news - MSNBC, CNN, local news, etc. Sometimes you just want to sit down and turn the TV on, and I'm willing to pay for that.

But the point remains that there's a big gap between $9.99 Spotify / $8 Netflix and $50-$100 cable, both of which many people are willing to pay for.

You're confusing cost with value.

I'm aware of the distinction - but in this case - to me at least - the cost and the value are the same. The value of streaming songs is exceptionally minimal when they are easily acquired for free via other means. The only value add in my mind is the convenience of not having to download albums in the first place. The value of that convenience is tied very closely to the cost of providing it as I could set up my own streaming service for personal use "at cost" so to speak with a cheap vps and a collection of downloaded music - or use something like iTunes match which costs ~$2.00 a month, if I'm willing to put forth the effort to acquire the music initially.

If Netflix had almost every new movie release and a larger catalog maybe it would be an apples to apples comparison.

Spotify has to pay royalties on every song play, which adds up extremely quickly considering you can just leave it running all day without even listening to it (like I do accidentally almost every day). There's not particularly an easy way to just "leave Netflix on".

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