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Tag: Spotify

  • Spotify Expanding Its Web Player Beta in the U.K.

    Spotify Expanding Its Web Player Beta in the U.K.

    Spotify is opening up its closed beta for its new web player in the U.K., letting more people have access to the browser-based music streaming experience.

    We first learned that Spotify was finally planning on launching a web player back in November of 2012. The player functions much like the desktop app, except it’s a bit more sparse, lacking app connections and some of the social features. It’s a barebones player that definitely gets the job done, however.

    “We’re letting a number of users in the UK test out a beta version of our basic web player, which we’re gearing up to release later this year,” a Spotify spokesperson told The Next Web.

    In January, Spotify axed music downloads in Europe.

    The faster they roll out this web player around the world, the better Spotify is able to compete with the onslaught of streaming music competitors like Rdio, Rhapsody, and as we learned earlier this week, possibly some sort of big subscription service from Google’s YouTube. The beta expansion in the U.K. means we’re that much closer to a full launch in the U.K.

    Although the web player is not technically available in the U.S. right now for most (accessing play.spotify.com simply redirects to the Spotify home page. But you can access it through what appears to be a loophole through a band’s Facebook page by clicking here.

  • Spotify for iOS Gets a Swipeable Menu and a New ‘Now Playing’ Bar

    Spotify for iOS Gets a Swipeable Menu and a New ‘Now Playing’ Bar

    Spotify for iOS has just received a makeover, and it brings a new interface that makes navigation, playback, and more a whole lot easier.

    The first big thing that you’ll notice is that you can now navigate around the app through a new sidebar. At any time while using the app, simply swipe left-to-right to bring up the menu. From there, you can jump off to the search feature, radio, playlists, friend list, what’s new, and settings.

    There’s also a new track menu that can be accessed by a “…” button to the right of every track. That new menu allows users to quickly add the track to a playlist, star it, add it to their queue, share it, begin radio, and more.

    But for me, the most important update is version 0.6.0 is the new “Now Playing” bar that adorns the bottom of the app. Instead of having to access the now playing screen manually, you’ll now always know what’s playing by checking the bottom of the screen.

    The new Now Playing bar also allows you to pause and play the track, as well as skip to the next or backtrack to the previous song simply by swiping left or right inside the bar.

    The update also fixed a few nagging issues including the shuffle function and wrong tracks displaying on the lock screen.

    You can grab the update right now over at the App Store.

  • Music Piracy Rates Down As More Turn To Streaming Services

    The Copyright Alert System is being put into place this week to deter pirates, but it appears that innovative business models are already doing that just fine.

    A recent NPD report says that music file sharing was down 17 percent in 2012 compared to 2011. The volume of music files downloaded from P2P services was down 26 percent from last year. Other forms of sharing music – burning CDs, swapping files and downloading from digital lockers – were also down.

    But wait, the music industry tells us that piracy is destroying its business, and that this must be dealt with by using anti-consumer approaches like the Copyright Alert System? Did the looming threat of the oft-delayed CAS drive piracy rates down last year? Not in the least.

    The NPD reports that 40 percent of consumers who had used file-sharing services in 2011 stopped last year because they found the joys of legal streaming alternatives, like Spotify. Who would have thought that making music easier to access, and free to boot, would be a deterrent for piracy? Pretty much everybody but the music industry.

    The music industry may be coming around to the idea that transformative business models is what it really needs though. The industry just posted its first revenue increase since 1999 today, and attributes most of that to digital sales and the licensing fees it gains from free streaming services like Spotify. In fact, Edgar Berger, chief executive for Sony Music Entertainment, told The New York Times that “digital is saving music.”

    This tidal wave of good news isn’t going to discourage the music and movie industries from moving forward with its plans to punish its most loyal customers. What it does do, however, is give Internet proponents some more ammunition next time the music industry pushes some new restrictions on digital music downloaders while conveniently forgetting that the Internet is what’s saving its business.

    In short, the music and movie industries need to embrace more digital business models like Spotify. Make things easy to obtain at a reasonable price and people will drop BitTorrent immediately. It’s not like pirates want to see these businesses die. They just want to be treated as an equal partner in the consumer/business relationship – not a slave that’s expected to buy anything and everything regardless of the stipulations.

    [h/t: The Next Web]

  • Google Subscription Music Service Coming In Third Quarter [Report]

    Google Subscription Music Service Coming In Third Quarter [Report]

    Rumors persisted throughout this past weekend that Google is working on a subscription music service that would take on Spotify, Pandora and the like.

    Bloomberg has since put out a report, citing two people with knowledge of the situation, that Google does indeed plan to do so, that negotiations are under way with major record labels, that the service will work with both Android and non-Android devices, and that the “worldwide service” is targeted for the third quarter. The report also says Google is discussing the renewal of deals for the use of songs in consumer-made YouTube videos.

    Obviously Google doesn’t comment on “rumor and speculation”.

    Such a service from Google would complement Google Play Music and YouTube quite nicely, basically eliminating the need for users to use Spotify or Pandora, provided that they prefer the Google experience. Of course, that will not necessarily be the case. People seem to be liking these services just fine, and Spotify’s heavy integration with Facebook seems to be a hit on the social level. Google still can’t really compete there (unless of course, they do tap into Facebook’s Open Graph).

    Either way, such an offering will give people more reason to turn to Google for their music needs, and it will be interesting to see how the competition shakes out. Those deals with labels will obviously be of vital importance.

    Meanwhile, it has been said that Spotify will try to negotiate with labels to make its free streaming service available on mobile devices, which would make the service all the more attractive of an option for users who aren’t willing to pay.

    Google’s Google Music offering recently got music matching capabilities.

  • Windows Phone 8 Finally Gets Spotify

    Windows Phone 8 has faced an uphill climb since it launched late last year. One of the many obstacles on its way to greatness was a lack of quality apps, but that’s been slowly changing.

    Microsoft announced that popular music streaming service Spotify has finally launched on Windows Phone 8. Just like its apps on other devices, Spotify for Windows 8 will bring a premium music streaming experience to users for $9.99 a month.

    Unlike its app for other devices, Spotify has received a noticeable redesign for Windows 8 to fit in with the design theme seen across all Windows 8 products. It now sports a clean design that’s only marred by a putrid yellow background. Here’s hoping you can change the colors.

    Windows Phone 8 Finally Gets Spotify

    Spotify is also offering its usual one month of free mobile service for Windows Phone 8 users who want to try it out. You can download the app for free here and start listening to what passes as popular music these days.

  • Grammy Nominees Gotye, Mumford & Sons Win Big According to Spotify Data

    Grammy Nominees Gotye, Mumford & Sons Win Big According to Spotify Data

    So, the Grammys are this Sunday, and Spotify thinks they can predict who the winners will be.

    Well, not exactly. But what they have done is analyze song and album streams to determine which of the current nominees would win the Grammy if Grammys were decided by popularity on the popular streaming service.

    Without further ado, here are Spotify’s picks:

    For Record of the Year, Spotify chooses Gotye’s “Somebody That I Used to Know” over The Black Keys, Kelly Clarkson, Fun, Frank Ocean, and Taylor Swift. They also pick this song for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance.

    For Album of the Year, Spotify says that users would pick Mumford & Sons’ Babel over Jack White’s Blunderbuss, Frank Ocean’s Channel Orange, Fun’s Some Nights, and The Black Keys’ El Camino.

    For Best New Artist, Spotify users choose The Lumineers over Frank Ocean, Hunter Hayes, Fun, and Alabama Shakes.

    And for Best Pop Solo Performance, Carly Rae Jespen’s viral smash “Call Me Maybe” wins with Spotify users.

    Spotify has also just launched a Predict the Grammys Facebook app, which offers users the chance to win tickets to next year’s Grammys as well as free Spotify premium service.

  • Spotify Axes Downloads In Europe

    Spotify Axes Downloads In Europe

    Spotify has become quite popular in the U.S. since it finally launched in 2011 after already achieving such popularity in Europe. One feature we might not get here in the States, however, is the ability to download songs, as the company has put a stop to the feature in Europe.

    Those who have already downloaded music, can of course still listen to their downloads, and those who have unused credits may still use them. They’re just not allowing new ones.

    On an FAQ page, Spotify says, “We’re currently not offering new download purchases on Spotify. You can still use downloads you’ve already purchased.”

    You can still re-download a track you’ve already bought.

    TechCrunch shares a statement from the company, saying, “We recently updated Spotify to further simplify the service and pave the way for new features announced at the end of last year. In-app purchases aren’t part of this update but we’re not ruling out their return. Credits/gift cards already purchased are still redeemable.”

    Rumor has it that Apple may release a “Pandora competitor” this month, and really, that means a Spotify competitor as well. With Apple’s iTunes having such a presence in the music downloads space, it seems like this is something Spotify would want to offer. Apparently for now, it’s not in the cards, however.

    Spotify currently has over 20 million subscribers, and gained 2 million paid subscriptions in 2012. In November, the company got a $100 million round of funding.

  • Gotye Claims Spotify’s Top Track of 2012

    Gotye Claims Spotify’s Top Track of 2012

    Another day, another year-in-review from a popular site or app. This time it’s Spotify’s turn to unveil the top tracks, artists, and albums of the year, according to their streaming and sharing stats.

    Congratulations Gotye, your song “Somebody That I Used to Know” is Spotify’s most popular track of the year. Spotify tracked the top songs in 15 different countries, and Gotye topped the list in six: Sweden, U.K., U.S., Spain, France, and Switzerland. It was also a good year for Carly Rae Jespen and Fun, who both had tracks in the top five in most countries.

    Here’s what the top ten looks like for the U.S.:

    (image)

    Gotye’s “Somebody That I Used to Know” also won the title of most shared track of the year. But he wasn’t the most-shared artist of 2012. That honor belongs to Adele. He wasn’t the most popular male artist either, as that crown belongs to David Guetta. He had the year’s most popular album and the most shared album with Nothing but the Beat.

    Rihanna was named most popular female artist and Coldplay named most popular band.

    Two newer features, Spotify Apps and Spotify Radio, also have a spot on the year-in-review. TuneWiki is the company’s top app of 2012, and Pop, Hip Hop, and Dance are their most popular radio genres of the year.

    In 2012, Spotify gained two million paid subscribers, pushing the total to 5 million. The service currently has 20 million total active users. Based on extrapolations from previous subscriber figures, we can project that Spotify is growing by a rate of roughly one million paid subscribers every six months.

  • Spotify Now Available on Some Roku Players (More Coming Soon)

    Spotify Now Available on Some Roku Players (More Coming Soon)

    Good news, Roku owners: Spotify has just landed on your device, giving the predominately streaming video service one of the top streaming music options around.

    “Joining more than 600 video, entertainment and casual game channels already on Roku, the Spotify channel is available today on Roku 2 players as well as the Roku Streaming Stick™ and will be coming soon on the Roku HD and Roku LT players in the U.S. and U.K.,” says Spotify.

    According to Spotify, it was one of the most highly requested features.

    There is one small catch, however. Spotify says that the streaming service on Roku will only be available to premium subscribers – meaning pay up or this announcement really doesn’t affect you. Bummer for you free Spotify users out there. Spotify recently reported that out of 20 million users, about 5 million were paid subscribers.

    This is the second device that Spotify has jumped to in the past few days. Earlier this week, a Spotify app launched on TiVo. Spotify is making a strong push for user accessibility, as the company recently became available on Samsung SmartTVs as well. We also know that Spotify is planning on launching a web player (finally), sometimes in early 2013.

  • Spotify Is Now Available on TiVo, Joins Pandora & Rhapsody

    Spotify Is Now Available on TiVo, Joins Pandora & Rhapsody

    Spotify is continuing to expand its availability across different devices, as the company has announced that it is now available on TiVo Premiere boxes in the U.S.

    All you have to do is sign-in directly on you TV with your existing Spotify Premium (the one that costs $9.99 a month) account. Once logged-in, you’ll have the ability to stream over 20 million songs, access your playlists, search for new music, and check out recommendations in the “what’s new” section.

    While the TiVo Spotify app is by no means feature-complete, it’s not barebones either. Your basic Spotify functionality is available at launch.

    “Integrating Spotify with the TiVo interface brings a more seamless user experience to Spotify fans, and introduces TiVo fans to a new way to listen to millions of songs for free,” said Pascal de Mul, Global Head of Hardware partnerships, Spotify. “Through this, users will be able to stream their playlists through their TiVo and home theater sound system and share their music with friends.”

    Spotify isn’t the first streaming service to join the TiVo lineup. TiVo already boats Pandora and Rhapsody. Spotify, with 5 million global paid subscriptions, is now focusing on accessibility. Apart from getting into device like TiVo and Samsung SmartTVs, Spotify is finally slated to release a web player next year.

  • Sean Parker and Lars Ulrich Are Buddies Now

    Sean Parker and Lars Ulrich Are Buddies Now

    In the year 2000, Metallica’s Lars Ulrich was fuming over the fact that an unfinished Metallica track had wound up on the Sean Parker-founded filesharing service Napster. That led to a famous lawsuit and the eventual demise of Napster as we knew it.

    Now, in the year 2012, Lars Ulrich and Sean Parker are partners and apparent new buddies. Yesterday, Spotify announced that the entire Metallica catalog is now available on the streaming music platform. Now, if you so choose, you can listen to Ulrich’s drumming without paying a dime (you just have to listen to some ads). It’s just funny how things work.

    Sean Parker has been tweeting about a meeting the two just had, and it serves as an odd bit of closure from a saga that we all remember so vividly (even the younger Napster users among us).

    It’s not like Lars Ulrich just recently dropped the hostility toward the internet’s role in music distribution. Years ago, he pretty much said that he was cool with a Metallica album being shared. But there you have it. Napster co-founder Sean Parker listening to Metallica on a streaming music service that he invests in. Amazing.

    [h/t All Things D]

  • Spotify Adds New Follow & Discovery Features, Now Rocks Metallica

    Spotify Adds New Follow & Discovery Features, Now Rocks Metallica

    Spotify has just announced a significant update to the service, one that focuses on music discovery. It’s all based on the theory that Spotify users complain about not knowing what to listen to, “and artists say they want to connect more closely with fans” – at least according to CEO Daniel Ek.

    Soon, Spotify users will be greeted with two all-new features on the service: First, a “follow tab” that allows users to follow “friends, artists, and influencers” in order to get new music recommendations. Second, a new “discover tab” that uses an algorithm to suggest new music based on listening history and follow choices.

    With the “follow” feature, Spotify lets users subscribe to the musical preferences of a specific set of artists and influencers. Want to know what Katie Couric is listening to? Well, now you can. How about keeping up with Wiz Khalifa’s current favorites? Just follow him and you’ll see his updates.

    As of now, Spotify’s list of “followable” entities totals 76 and features celebrities like President Obama and Ashton Kutcher but is predominately made up of artists. Once you construct your follow list, Facebook friends’ recommendations will also show up in the feed.

    The Discover tab is basically a giant recommendation engine that incorporates who you’re following with data concerning your previous listening habits. Help for this feature is provided by various music apps and online music publications.

    “Combining the best technology and social tools with content from Pitchfork, Songkick and Tunigo, and many more, Spotify’s Discover feed continually seeks out the most relevant content and brings it right to you,” says Spotify.

    The update will be rolling out to all Spotify platforms – the desktop app, mobile app, and new web player – over the next few weeks.

    Another noteworthy element to Spotify’s announcement is that Metallica’s full catalog is now available for your streaming pleasure. Yes, Napster-gunning Lars Ulrich is letting people listen to his music for free (mostly). This seems to be the culmination of the “I don’t really give a sh*t” approach he began taking back in 2008.

    “Metallica has always tried to be in control of the way we present our music to our fans, which is why we’ve waited to see the way these online retailers and streaming services operate and gauge the overall fan experience before deciding to include our music” said Lars Ulrich. “We now feel that Spotify not only has a proven track record, but is by far the best music streaming service. We are beyond psyched to unleash our music through their platform.”

    Oh, and you can also “follow” Metallica’s recommendations if you want.

    Today, Spotify announced 20 million users and 5 million paid subscriptions, meaning that the company has grown their paid user base by two million over the course of the year.

  • Spotify Gained Two Million Paid Subscriptions This Year

    Spotify Gained Two Million Paid Subscriptions This Year

    Music streaming service Spotify has just announced its current user stats, and they show that the company has increased its paid user base by two million this year alone.

    According to Spotify, it can now boast 5 million paid subscriptions globally. One million of those paid subscriptions comes from U.S. users.

    Back in July, Spotify announced 4 million paid subscriptions and in January the figure was 3 million. At this rate, Spotify is growing roughly one million paying customers every six months.

    Of course, Spotify is not only concerned with paid subscribers. Any non-paying user is a potential paying user, any Spotify has plenty of those too. According to the company, it now sports 20 million total active users who have generated over a billion playlists. Back in July, it was 15 million total users – so Spotify basically has the same paid to non-paid user ratio as it did six months ago (3.75 to 4).

    Last month, Spotify attracted a $100 million round of funding from Goldman Sachs and Coca-Cola, valuing the company at $3 billion. Just a few days later, we learned that the company was finally working on a web player that will roll out in 2013.

    Another interesting stat from Spotify’s announcement? Apparently, users have created more than 4 million different playlists that a simply titled “Love.” I’ll just leave that there with no comment.

  • Spotify Is Finally Launching a Web Player [REPORT]

    You wanted it, and apparently Spotify heard your calls and is in the process of giving you what you want. For those of you unable to benefit from Spotify’s desktop app, the company is about to unveil a browser-based player.

    The news comes from The Verge, who quotes sources close to company. According to them the browser option will begin to roll out today and roll out slowly over the next few months.

    According to the report, the web browser version of Spotify will come with a limited set of features – search, Spotify Radio, playlists, and the “What’s New” discovery element. Really, that’s all a user needs to get started. Although, we’d hope that more features (like Spotify Apps) come to the web player at some point.

    As of now, it’s unclear what type of tech Spotify will use to power the new web player.

    A web player is simply a good idea that will benefit all (and a long time coming). It makes Spotify more mobile, allowing users to access it on the go and on devices that do not have the desktop app downloaded. It will be interesting to see how Spotify shifts up their mobile streaming structure, considering users have to sport a premium account to access most of their music on the go (with the app).

    Yesterday we told you that Spotify had just received a new $100 million round of funding from Goldman Sachs, and Coca-Cola.

  • Spotify Gets New Funding From Goldman Sachs, Coke [Report]

    Spotify has attracted a new $100 million round of funding, valuing the company at nearly $3 billion, according to various reports.

    According to the New York Times’ Media Decoder, Coca-Cola is becoming a minority investor in the company as part of the round, and that Goldman Sachs is contributing about half of the investment, with Coca-Cola contributing 10% and Fidelity Investments also contributing 15%.

    News came out in April that Spotify had partnered with Coca-Cola. The announcement was that Spotify would provide technology for Coca-Cola Music globally. Coke would integrate Spotify into its Facebook Timeline media.

    “Coca-Cola is the most recognized and respected brand in the world and we are proud to be their music partner,” Spotify CEO Daniel Ek said at the time. Spotify and Coca-Cola both believe that music, technology and creativity can connect people around the globe.”

    There has been no official announcement or statement from Spotify at this point.

  • Xbox Music Is Spotify For Windows 8, Xbox 360

    Microsoft wants to get into the music streaming business in a big way. The company already had the Zune Music Pass, but the Zune branding didn’t do the company any favors. Now Microsoft is trying it again with Xbox Music, a brand that’s much more synonymous with cool. We’ve only heard rumors and hearsay for the past few months since its initial announcement, but now we have some concrete details.

    Xbox Music will be available on October 16 in free and paid varieties. Users who opt for the free version will have to sit through ads just like Spotify. Paid users can expect to service to cost $9.99 a month, or $99.99 for a year. It looks like the pricing leak from last month was actually right.

    October 16 is actually just one of many launch dates for Xbox Music. Microsoft will be launching the service across multiple platforms as they become available. It will be available on the Xbox 360 on October 16 as it coincides with the console’s biannual Xbox Live update. It will then be available on Windows 8 PCs and tablets on October 26 to coincide with the operating system’s launch. Finally, it will be available on Windows Phone devices sometime in November to coincide with the launch of Windows Phone 8.

    As it stands, Xbox Music is going to be heavily tied into Microsoft’s products going forward. It has its biggest chance of success on Windows 8 devices as its the default music player for the operating system.

    What about other platforms – like iOS and Android? Microsoft will release Xbox Music on these devices later. It’s a smart move considering that other more popular streaming services (like Spotify) are already big players on the other platforms. . Microsoft needs to build up the Xbox Music brand on Windows first, and then try their hand on the other platforms.

    Will Xbox Music succeed? It certainly can’t do any worse than Zune did. On top of that, it does have the all-in-one experience that more consumers are clamoring for. The service allows users to stream free music, purchase subscriptions, and even buy music to download all from the same service on any platform. That may just be what Microsoft needs to compete in a business that’s been taken over by Spotify.

  • Spotify Generates Just Enough Profit from Subscriptions to Pay for Free Service

    Spotify Generates Just Enough Profit from Subscriptions to Pay for Free Service

    Spotify’s business model is pretty simple: Offer a large (and sometimes fully unrestricted) free streaming service to users, and support that partially with ads. The hope is that enough users will want to pay the monthly subscription in order to do away with all of the advertisements, as well as to unlock features like Spotify mobile.

    British media research firm Ender’s Analysis looked at Spotify’s two-tired business plan, and found that the company is kind of locked in limbo – at least in terms of profits.

    According to their analysis, Spotify rakes in a gross profit of $76 million from subscriptions, but lost roughly the same amount in its free, ad-supported tier. ““Spotify is now finding that legitimate free services can lure fans away from piracy, but at the expense of investor capital,” said Ender’s.

    As of right now in the U.S., Spotify users have full access to the entire catalog – something that’s not available to users in many parts of the world. U.S. users can get a basic subscription for $4.99 a month, which will get rid of the ads. They can fork over a little more ($9.99 a month) and gain access to Spotify Premium, which adds mobile support and offline support.

    But the company is still growing, and the free version is very attractive to music lovers. It gets people in the door. You’d have to think that eventually, Spotify would disallow any user from having full, unrestricted access to the catalog for free -even with ads. That would be a huge incentive for users to at least purchase the $4.99 subscription.

    [Ender’s Analysis via The New York Times]

  • Spotify For Android Gets NFC Support

    The Spotify app for Android was updated today, complete with new Near Field Communication (NFC) support for phones running Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. The announcement on the Spotify blog specifies that app users look for the option under the “Audio Effects” menu in the Settings menu. Spotify has not specified whether the NFC support still works for the newer Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, or whether that support will come in the future.

    Supposedly, the feature will allow Spotify users to share music with other phones that have the same feature. It is unknown exactly what music the app will allow users to share. Spotify has subscription options that allow users to stream music of their choice. It seems unlikely that such music can be shared through the app, though it should at least allow users to share locally-stored music.

    The mobile industry has been slowly adding support and developing the infrastructure for NFC technologies. While high-end Android-based smartphones have had support for NFC for some time now, Apple has yet to implement the technology into their iPhones. Samsung recently released programmable TecTiles NFC stickers to coincide with the launch of its Galaxy S III smartphone.

    However, rumors earlier this year that the upcoming iPhone 5 would support NFC caused credit card companies and Walmart to invest heavily in building out digital wallet services. Though more recent rumors call for an NFC-less iPhone 5, this just goes to show how much market power even rumors about an iPhone can have.

  • Spotify Is on Its Way to Canada, Asia, and More [REPORT]

    Spotify Is on Its Way to Canada, Asia, and More [REPORT]

    Attention Canadians: Popular streaming music subscription service Spotify may be coming to your country soon.

    According to the Wall Street Journal, the company unveiled these plans in their annual accounts, which were just published. In the account filings, Spotify declared that a Canadian launch in being planned.

    And not only that, but they also may expand to some Asian and South American countries. The WSJ also points out that last year, Spotify established subsidiaries in some of the aforementioned places – Canada, Singapore, and Hong Kong. A Spotify spokeswoman refused to discuss specifics, but said that the company plans to launch in new countries, “of course.”

    In 2012, Spotify launched in countries like Germany, Australia, and New Zealand – bringing to total countries where the service is available to 15. Last month, Spotify’s CCO Ken Parks revealed that the company has over 15 million active users, 4 million of which pay for a subscription.

    And last month Spotify officially turned one year old in the United States. To celebrate that, Spotify released some additional statistics about U.S. users. That included the fact that they have listend to over 13 billion songs and shared over 27.8 million of them with friends (across social media, for instance the Facebook-connected app).

    Spotify also just launched their Free Radio service on Android.

  • Streaming Music Will Dominate Downloads in 2012 (and Beyond)

    Streaming Music Will Dominate Downloads in 2012 (and Beyond)

    According to a forecast from Strategy Analytics, this year is shaping up to be all about Spotify and less about iTunes. That’s because streaming music services (like Spotify, Pandora, and Rdio) are set to dwarf download services when it comes to revenues in the year 2012.

    According to the Global Record Music forecast, streaming revenues will increase 40% this year. Download revenues are only set to increase by 8.5%. Basically, Spotify and Pandora are currently about five-times as profitable as iTunes and Google Play (percentage-wise, of course).

    “Although downloads still account for nearly 80 per cent of online music revenues, this market is maturing and spending is flattening in all key territories. Streaming music services such as Spotify and Pandora will be the key growth drivers over the next five years as usage and spending grow rapidly,” says Strategy Analytics’ Ed Barton.

    Streaming music revenues 2012

    Streaming is going to crush downloads over the next few years, but when you team them up they still fall short of packaged sales. Overall digital sales are set to increase 17.8% to $8.6 billion, but still only hold a global share of 39%.

    But Strategy Analytics predicts that will all change in 2015, when digital finally overtakes physical.

    When streaming services were in their infancy, they just couldn’t compete with the likes of iTunes in terms of selection. It’s not that people feel they have to own their music, they just want to have access to everything they want to hear whenever they want to hear it. As services like Spotify are better able to provide that for $6-10 a month, people are naturally seeing the benefit in forgoing the $0.99 download.

    [h/t The Verge]

  • Spotify Has 15 Million Active Users, 4 Million Of Which Pay For It

    If you actively use Spotify for your streaming music needs, you’re one of a growing number.

    According to Spotify’s CCO Ken Parks, who recently spoke at London’s Global Business Summit on Creative Content, the service currently boasts 15 million active users.

    Of those 15 million users, 4 million (a little over one-quarter) have a paid subscription.

    It’s been just over one year since Spotify launched in the United States, after gaining quite a bit of popularity in Europe. That, coupled with later launches in countries like Germany surely contributed to the company’s growth. Spotify announced just over 10 million active users back in January, with 3 million paid.

    Another thing that has helped Spotify become a household name is its deep integration with Facebook. Back when that was first unveiled in 2011, it boosted Spotify signups by 250,000 users a day for awhile. That integration continues to get deeper, as Facebook continues to add features that make it easy to share and discover music using Open Graph apps (particularly Spotify).

    When U.S. Spotify officially turned one last week, the company released other interesting stats. In that first year, U.S. users listened to over 13 billion songs and shared over 27.8 million of them with friends. They also announced that users had spent 2,700 years discovering playlists, lyrics, reviews, and more using the many free Spotify apps.

    Earlier today, Spotify made another move to boost its user base by finally launching free radio for Android devices. Spotify free radio is a Pandora-like feature that allows users to build stations based on songs and artists – as well as save songs they like for later playback.

    [via The Next Web]