Artists want you to pre-record their music, but should you?

You may have noticed a trend among artists releasing music on streaming platforms. On Twitter, Instagram and TikTok, artists are asking their fans to “pre-save” new releases. What’s wrong with that, and should you do it?

What is “pre-recorded” music?

If you are unfamiliar with pre-saving, it usually goes like this. An artist will ask their fans on social media to pre-record an upcoming single or album. This request comes with a link to a third-party website with buttons for Spotify, Apple Music, and any other platforms they use.

When you click on the link to the service of your choice, you are asked to give the website access to your streaming account. There are different pre-save services that artists use, but they all work this way.

What is he actually doing? Essentially, it’s like pre-ordering without ordering anything. When music is posted, whether it’s a single or a full album, it immediately shows up in your library. Some services will notify you of new music from your favorite artists, but not all. Pre-saving can be a good way to make sure you know.

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It’s all about data

Pre-saving is not just a matter of convenience. You have to give the pre-backup service an alarming amount of data when you sign up. This data is transmitted to the artist’s record company or a third-party service.

Here is an example of the data Universal Music gets when you connect your Spotify account to the pre-registration service.

Your name, country, username, email, subscription information, number of subscribers you have, public playlists, listening history and self-explanatory content settings. You also give the option to make changes to your profile and playlists.

It might seem like the pre-save website is an official thing associated with Spotify or another streaming service, but it’s not. At the time of writing in July 2022, no streaming service has built-in pre-recording.

Beyond the privacy concerns of all this data being passed to third-party services, there is also some value for the artist. Much like pre-ordering a new phone, it gives artists an idea of ​​the demand for new music. It’s also a way to build hype before the release.

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Should you pre-register?

With all these privacy issues in mind, is it a good idea to pre-record music through some random third-party website? It depends on how much you value convenience.

Chances are, if you follow an artist enough to see the call to pre-record, you’ll also see when the music is actually available. However, if you’re worried about missing it, pre-saving can be a good way to make sure you don’t miss it.

Ultimately, pre-saving looks like many of the trade-offs we make online. If something is free, chances are you’re paying with your data. Maybe it bothers you, maybe not.

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