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OVER THE LAST year, Spotify has repeatedly found itself in high-profile spats with blockbuster artists based primarily on one policy: Spotify’s unwillingness to make some music available only to its paying subscribers.
Now the company is set to give in, according to The Wall Street Journal’s Hannah Karp.
“In private talks, Spotify has told music executives that it is planning to allow some artists to start releasing albums only to its 20 million-plus subscribers,” while leaving its free users out in the cold, Karp writes.
Spotify’s strict policy of only stocking music that its free users could also enjoy was a main reason that artists like Taylor Swift and Coldplay withheld their music from the service, either temporarily or permanently.
Swift has been particularly vocal in criticising Spotify. She claims Spotify’s current policies don’t value her music in the proper way.
Swift initially denied Apple Music access to her albums because it was not going to pay artists during a free trial period, but later made up with the company and made her catalog available on the platform (after the company met her demands).
Spotify is, no doubt, hoping for a similar reconciliation — with Swift and artists who share her sentiments.
“Apple treated me like I was a voice of a creative community that they actually cared about,” Swift told Vanity Fair. “And I found it really ironic that the multibillion-dollar company reacted to criticism with humility, and the startup with no cash flow reacted to criticism like a corporate machine.”
Perhaps her opinion of Spotify will change as well, though the company has reportedly made clear that this policy will only roll out on a trial basis, according to The Wall Street Journal. Spotify executives want to see how it affects subscriptions.
This potential change should be welcome news for Pandora CEO Brian McAndrews, who has called free music on-demand an unsustainable business model, and sees it as a negative force in the industry. McAndrews is of the opinion that on-demand music should only exist in a premium tier.
Spotify issued the following the statement to Business Insider:
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.
In that context, we explored a wide range of promotional options for the new Coldplay album and ultimately decided, together with management, that Coldplay and its fans would best be served with the full album on both free and premium this Friday.
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I suspect Johnson may emerge from his vaccine lap ahead, scornfully glancing at the EU, by forcing an early election while branding Labour a bunch of chickens if they initially resist – and then forging ahead with the Tory majority extended from 80 to 100 or so.
And then if there’s a hot Summer of protest up North he’ll play the great statesman by calling for the Northern Ireland protocol to be scrapped or unilaterally scrapping it, in an effort to strategically weaken Ireland’s relationship with the EU, while contently watching whether there’ll be a land border as a result.
I think we might well be in for a few more laughs with this joker.
@Mick Tobin: Am no fan of the yanks but we might need them to put the pressure on the UK re a trade deal if you’re right.
I should perhaps add that Johnson might also want to consider renaming his party the ENP – the English National Party.
@Mick Tobin: it’s unreal how quite Labour are. They really need to kick in with something solid soon.
@Paul Furey: They can’t, there’s absolutely b***** all they can do at the moment. They tried moving to the hard left under Corbyn – seemingly an effort to move away from Blair which already started with Ed Miliband, and that obviously didn’t work.
Now they’re back at the centre and all they can do is wait until the corona crisis is over, and it’s back to the everyday realities including those of Brexit. Then perhaps they have a shot at coming up with a few viable alternatives (such as joining the customs union).
I think for one they need another leader, perhaps Manchester mayor Andy Burnham. In any case I’m afraid it’ll be a long time before they have a serious chance at winning an election.
@Mick Tobin: You are hypothesising my worst fears. He is a deplorable joke of a man with zero integrity, morals. His political and career ambitions trumps anything like an international peace treaty such as the GFA. There will be terrible consequences for the UK but if the terds amplify scenes like week he could have his excuse.
@Gary Garden: In a sense Johnson is simply a representative of the usual confrontational divide-and-conquer style of British politics – albeit a more serious case. But Brexit has made it spill over onto the international stage, with Ireland the first scapegoat to be encountered there.
@Mick Tobin: you had me at ‘joker’… spoiled it with this prejudiced postscript. Shame.
@Paul Furey:
Since Corbyn was shafted there is no opposition, Starmer is Tory light, just like Blair.
Same happened here with Labour becoming FG Light.
No opposition in the UK and only SF as opposition here with PBP, SD and a few others.
Awful Shame everyone has shifted to the Right
@Mick Tobin: an nationalist leader, Ireland would benefit greatly from one
For a small Irish newspaper to infer that the British prime minister is some sort of circus character is a bit rich considering what you have for a government in Ireland.
@Michael Maher: the guardian is not Irish, it started in Manchester & it has become a laughable shadow of its former self.
@Richard Cronin: The Journal took up on it
@Michael Maher: this is journal most of the articles on here are copy & paste jobs from associated press (American). That don’t make it irish, it makes journal a poor news site that is why most people come on here for the comments.
@Richard Cronin: 100%
He is certainly no mug.
@Scott Coulter: he is actually. He’s out of his depth. He wanted the lead role in his school, he got and hadn’t a clue what to do. He wanted the
He is Penny wise and Pound……
A very good read. Unfortunately we have a government who is not performing like Johnson but by their actions, have inadvertently become clowns. Everything they touch at the moment is falling apart. These clowns are not giving us anything to laugh at and the audience are far from happy.
have your say