There are currently 75 million Spotify users; 20 million premium users and around 55 million free users. In the current ‘freemium‘ model, all content is available to all 75 million, with the only main difference between premium and free accounts being advertisements in the free version. According to Wall Street Journal, however, some artists aren’t happy with this current model, putting pressure on Spotify to make their music available only to those with premium accounts.
Last year Taylor Swift tried to get her music solely on the paid version of the streaming service, however terms could not be agreed and she consequently pulled her music from Spotify altogether. Recently, Adele has taken all of her music off of streaming services, with Coldplay also delaying the release of their album on Spotify by a week – artists gain a lot more money from sales and downloads than streams.
Jonathan Prince, Spotify spokesman stated, “we are 100% committed to our model because we believe that a free, ad-supported tier combined with a more robust premium tier is the best way to deliver music to fans, create value for artists and songwriters and grow the industry“. Spotify may be 100% behind their model but artists are slowly losing faith.
#Peace.Love.Spotify
