Spotify announces plans to charge for Spotify for Artists
Spotify has continuously remained one of the most prominent music outlets in the world. With its huge volume of users, the platform commands a great deal of power in the music industry, making every one of its strategies send ripples through the scene, for better or for worse. Recently, Spotify announced plans to allow any artist to upload music to the platform without the help of a publisher, news which proved hugely popular with the industry. This change of policy is set to allow artists of all statures to have the opportunity to generate revenue on the platform. However, it seems that Spotify has now announced plans to make its Spotify for Artists section a paid service.
Spotify has achieved a staggering level of power since It was founded in 2006, just 12 years ago. The brand now has over 4,000 employees and has over 191 million users. Due to this, Spotify remains an integral part of every artist’s campaign planning. Despite its controversial moments, Spotify seems to be here for the long-run and only grows its influence with each passing year. Spotify continues to develop its offering and improve the services it provides, which is undoubtedly one of the reasons that it continues to expand its popularity over time.
Spotify has brought about a great deal of change in the music industry having become the catalyst for a streaming boom. Previously, illegal downloads were causing the music industry to lose a great deal of money, but streaming has enabled this problem to almost completely disappear. In many cases, the people who were illegally downloading their music instead decided to pay for a Spotify subscription in order to have access to all the music they could possibly need. With Spotify playing such an influential part in the music industry, it is unsurprising that any major changes the platform makes effect the wider artist community a great deal. It now looks likely that artists may have to pay to use Spotify for generating income in the near future, something which could negatively impact rising stars.
Founder Daniel Ek states: “Our strategy in our marketplace side of the business is the same as we have on the rest of Spotify, which is it’s a freemium business, meaning there will be a certain amount of products which artists and labels can get for free, and there are others which we will charge money for. So, that’s an evolving strategy when it comes to our product portfolio. Data specifically is very unlikely to be one of those things that we’ll charge for.”
This means that there will be aspects of Spotify for Artists that will become paid features, affecting artists around the world in a major way. Although details weren’t given regarding exactly which features will require payment and which will not, this could effect rising stars drastically, limiting their ability to progress without paying into the platform. The news will be disappointing for many, especially as Spotify has become known as such an artist-friendly platform due to its comprehensive features. The only positive that could come out of this change in policy is that Spotify could be set to offer more to artists once their payment feature is set up. New features could arise that could give artists an even bigger chance to advance their influence and build their global following. Many have speculated that the paid version of Spotify for Artists could involve the new playlist submission feature that Spotify recently launched. Ek also stated:
“We’ve now seen on the new music submission more than 67,000 artists that have submitted their works through that product and over 10,000 new artists that have been added to editorial playlists for the very first time, connecting their music with thousands of new fans, so we’re very encouraged by the early results of this.”
The prediction is that paying artists may gain better access to the playlist submission feature and be able to submit more tracks than those who are not paying. This would be a great way for Spotify themselves to increase revenue without forcing artists to pay for the platform in order to succeed. If this is the case, the changes will have a slightly less negative impact on artists. Ultimately though, forcing artists to pay for certain features is damaging to those who are trying to make their way up the ladder on a much lower budget.
Many would argue that being able to publish your music and gain streaming revenue should be accessible to all artists, regardless of budget. However, the music industry has never been a level playing field and has always favoured budding artists who have more money to spend. Due to this, the topic of paid and unpaid features is one that has the potential to open up a huge level of debate within the industry. Most in the industry would prefer for there to be a level playing field for artists, regardless of budget. But with Spotify looking to increase their own revenue, it looks likely that it is the emerging artists who will suffer.
Any changes that are made to the Spotify for Artists platform will have widespread effects across the music industry. For instance, when they recently decided to allow independent artists to upload music and generate revenue, they opened the door for future talent to earn income. Despite Spotify being one of the lower-paying streaming platforms for artists, it remains an industry leader, making it a continuing important brand for artists to invest time into.
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