Spotify to end free listening?

Spotify is apparently considering the introduction of time limits on its free content.

According to The Hits Daily Double, the music streaming giant is reviewing a proposal that will give users of the free tier the ability to listen to new content for a limited trial period, before Spotify allegedly converts them to a premium subscription to continue listening or denies them all access.

TMN got in touch with Spotify Australia who said the new model proposition is currently speculation.

If the reported model conversion is put in place, it would appease both artists and labels. Spotify is due to renew its deals with majors Sony and Universal early next year and if Vevo’s EVP, International Nic Jones is correct, many deals have the chance of not being renewed due to the current licensing platforms.

“There would be a major change over the next two years because artists and rights holders would not continue to give licenses to platforms that weren’t able to sufficiently monetise them,” Jones told TMN last week.

A new model would give Spotify bargaining power come license renewal time.

It could also be said that a new model would address artists’ drawn-out aversion to Spotify’s royalty compensation. Taylor Swift and her label Big Machine Records’ widely-reported decision to pull her entire catalogue from Spotify incited op-ed articles from artists like Aloe Blacc and Dead Kennedys’ East Bay Ray as well as stirring artists like Jason Aldean to follow in Swift’s footsteps.

In this week's Billboard cover story, Swift discussed her stance on Spotify’s freemium model: "Until Spotify starts to fairly compensate the creators of music, I'm not going to be a part of it.

"[…] Everyone, in and out of the music business, kept telling me that my opinion and my viewpoint was naive and overly optimistic -- even my own label," says Swift. "But when we got those first-day numbers in, all of a sudden, I didn't look so naive anymore."

It should also see Spotify turn a profit for the first time since its inception in 2008. The global revenue statistics released for 2013 showed Spotify pays more than 80% of its income to rights holders.