WOW. Did not expect such a reaction! I sat there all day yesterday waiting for a reply, and it wasn’t until waking up the next morning to see this massive conversation take place. Once again…
I really want to respond to everyone, but you all seemed to hit every plausible thought on the head, and written much more concisely than I could have dreamed to in such a short span. So many excellent viewpoints to understand both sides of the coin, and actually after posting I started to think how from a business standpoint, as much as I hate to admit it, Spotify’s model makes total sense, for them. Same game, different players, or same game, same players, different name. 
I’m in my early 30s now 
and have always enjoyed the experience of playing records. Luckily, I had two DJ uncles on opposite sides of the family (one in LA and one in Turkey) that helped me to form an early concept of US/EU music market differences. We rarely got the hot euro tracks out here unless you somehow knew a DJ (obviously, they weren’t giving up the secret stash, either).
Even the Warner record label had an insert back in the day titled “Loss Leaders” and encouraged people to buy those albums. And, I highly recommend reading that small print up top towards the end about if their accountants ran the company they would charge much more per album. Aged like milk.
HOW DARE YOU. 
Actually, it wasn’t until I started to sample records (still meh at it) that I understood how layered the free jazz stuff was. Also, kind of viewed free jazz as a middle-finger to the labels, sort of like an early punk movement at that time (which I’m assuming be-bop filled that role prior to that). Recently, I started to develop a theory when I noticed a trend of the massively talented musicians being just small time features (if lucky)/ session players on an album with no credit whatsoever for making iconic basslines, drum grooves, playing things with improper tuning, etc, Namely one of my favorite jazz guys, Chic Corea, R.I.P. I used to believe these people were very wealthy (blame naivety) only to find out later in life that they are just living regular lives, and more often than not are poor, despite the massive influence they had in people’s lives. I would feel like a second-hand robbed feeling for them if that makes sense.
Unfortunately, I’ve been having this feeling too lately, and I think it’s an unavoidable one for artists of all sorts. But, it’s also one of those mind rotting thoughts that should be avoided as best as possible, which obviously is easier said then done. Here’s one of my favorite quotes from Chic Corea that was on an old record sleeve: “Don’t let the crazies in the world stop your beautiful creative process.” I think that if we as artists are creating from a pure foundation, then those gross thought should just remain ignored, and we carry on our mission that we set out on long ago to search for those rare tones and combinations.
All in all, my main gripe with Spotify is that the rapid rate of technology advancing is causing the machine to eat, spit, chew up artists at a quicker rate and artists aren’t getting the same shine, or comfort to produce for that matter because the incentive to create is not what it used to be. This is hypocritical on my part though, as something like Spotify was a dream back in the day that couldn’t come sooner (I don’t use it by the way I like having hard copies). Might also just be that we’re all collectively as musicians much more aware of what is happening among the industry right now. Or, admittedly, I’m getting older. What’s my age again? 
I seriously love this forum (wish the old MPC forums were this deep). It’s nice to have a place with like-minded people with similar/opposing viewpoints that can be thoughtfully discussed, and would still be down to share some beers. 
I actually don’t hate jazz - it’s just such an easy target…
