Spotify and the Pirates: In Search of a "Celestial Jukebox" for Cultural Diversity

Often seen as the ultimate solution for the global problem of "online piracy", streaming services have been replacing file sharing networks and sites as the preferred means of accessing online music. One example of their increasing popularity is the service provided by the Swedish company Spotify. Even though Spotify quotes several studies showing the alleged positive impact of its service in terms of reducing "online music piracy", this paper aims to highlight the main obstacles facing an offer based on the democratization of access to culture presented by commercial streaming services supported by the culture industries. It draws on a comparative analysis of Spotify and a private file-sharing community (a private BitTorrent tracker), based on the experience of using both services by an individual living in a peripheral country in the European Union like in Portugal.