Tag: daniel ek
Spotify headed to the US?
Could a Stateside launch be on the cards?
Spotify and 3 deal confirmed – music streaming HTC Hero on its way
Spotify has already agreed deals with a Swedish and a Norwegian network but 3 is clearly its most high profile so far as the network is active in many Asian markets as well as European ones like the UK and Switzerland. The big opportunity though is in the home market of joint 3 and Spotify investor Li Ka-Ching – China.
Spotify coming to your mobile phone – but at a price
Good news: Yes, Spotify is indeed coming to mobile phones. Bad news: we’re going to have to pay for it. These were the words from the horse’s mouth when Spotify CEO Daniel Ek spoke at The Great Escape music conference over the weekend.
The word is that very few people – certainly in the UK – have signed up for Spotify’s £9.99 a month Premium service and this is just the kind of value content that’ll make people change their minds. Ek also dropped a large one that there’ll be some other bits and pieces to beef the package up in terms of social networking, exclusive track access and, most interestingly, music recommendations. He said:
“We definitely want to have music recommendations, but we would never recommend tracks ourselves.
“I’d love to work with someone like Last.fm and in a couple of days you’ll see an announcement for something like that.”
Well, the best way to work with some like Last.fm is to actually work with Last.fm and I’ve got a tenner down says that’s what we’re going to hear.
So, what do you think? Will you pay for Spotify on the go, given that it’ll probably work out side of connectivity too? Or has it just become the same as any old service with this announcement. Let us know in the comments – YES! THEY’RE BACK ON!!!!!
(via Brand Republic)
Spotify confirms mobile ambitions, and outlines roadmap
PaidContent UK has a great interview with Daniel Ek, the CEO of the so-good-it-makes-us-weep music streaming service Spotify. It’s very wide-ranging, but the most interesting bits cover Spotify’s plans for the future.
Ek discusses whether Spotify is viable as ad-funded alone – saying: “We launched probably at the worst possible time in 70 years for advertising.” He points out, though, that the service has A-list brands involved and average listening times per user are “over an hour per user per day”.
The other option is funding the service by pushing the site’s premium offering. Although Ek acknowledges that the vast majority of users aren’t paying, he says: “Rest assured, we haven’t really started doing the kind of features that we think will really drive adoption of becoming a paid user.”
What might those features be? Ek discusses user-created radio stations, exclusive interviews and cross-platform interoperability. On that last note, he’s talking about mobile service – the area where Spotify could finally drop the axe on the iPod.
But, like Apple, he wants to do it right: “The success of Spotify is based on its simplicity – we won’t do another mobile thing where it works (only) so-so – we’re going to do it where it’s simple, easy and just works.” He also promises plenty of upgrades for the desktop client in the meantime.
There’s more discussion of Spotify’s plans for launching in the States and Ek’s take on the Pirate Bay court case in the interview – go check it out. Then come back here and let us know in the comments what features would make you pay for a Premium subscription.
