Why the Vodafone/Spotify deal makes sense

Last week’s tie-up between Vodafone Australia and Spotify – where millions of tracks on ad-free Spotify Premium become part of Vodafone’s monthly and pre-paid network subscriptions – makes sense, says new data from Roy Morgan Research.

Half of Australian smartphone owners (14+) play music/mp3s and 13% stream music via their mobiles. Of the three network operators, Vodafone’s customers were most likely to play music/mp3s in an average four weeks in the year to June 2014 (56%). But 15% on Optus  streamed music via their mobile phones compared with 14% for Vodafone.

The Vodafone-Spotify system looks to operate the reverse of what Telstra did with MOG, where Telstra mobile customers pay to access the service but get unmetered streaming of song data, Roy Morgan Research maintained.

Its GM of Media, Tim Martin, said, “The streaming space is really dynamic at the moment, and we are watching developments in this new industry with interest.”

He said their data tracking the consumption and uptake of streaming services by consumers “supports this deal between Spotify and Vodafone We believe that brands who combine digital services with their core products stand to meet the needs of emerging consumers in innovative ways.”