Spotify is looking to expand its premium-only content as it nears the final deadline to complete negotiations with the three major labels. According to a report in Digital Music News, citing anonymous sources, the streaming service is moving towards offering more content only to premium subscribers or for a very limited time to non-paying users.
Details are still in preliminary phases, but a variety of different scenarios remain in play including only offering one or two songs from a high-profile album for non-paying users. DMN sources say that an "early 2016" rollout for the new, "gated" plan is the most likely.
The timeline is being affected by the company's negotiations with the majors that are apparently coming up on an Oct. 1 deadline. Spotify has been under increasing pressure to convert its tens of millions of free users towards paying subscribers and fast as the majors—Sony, Warner and Universal—start to sour to the idea of the two-tiered royalty system that has developed under it. This is especially the case with new services like TIDAL and Apple Music creating an immediate paywall for users.
Spotify recently tested out the gated-off premium content with the Muse album Drones, where they only made the 10-minute song "The Globalist" available to premium users. The album was released through Warner Music.
Much of the appeal of Spotify was that free users could sample music without a charge, but listen to a series of ads after several songs. The number of ads has risen over the past few years as pressure has increased to pay out higher royalties to artists.
Be on the lookout for more premium content that is fenced off from free users as Spotify looks to try and appease the majors in its negotiations.
