{"id":17342,"date":"2014-03-15T00:55:00","date_gmt":"2014-03-15T04:55:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bejone03.expressions.syr.edu\/trf235\/?p=17342"},"modified":"2014-04-21T14:44:05","modified_gmt":"2014-04-21T18:44:05","slug":"spotify","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bejone03.expressions.syr.edu\/trf235\/2014\/03\/15\/spotify\/","title":{"rendered":"Spotify"},"content":{"rendered":"
By Hannah D Friedland<\/pre>\n
\"[1]\"<\/a>
[1]<\/a>\u00a0Spotify’s Logo<\/p><\/div>\n
THE SPOTIFY STORY:<\/strong><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n
\"[6]<\/a>
[2] <\/a>The most updated visuals of the Spotify application on thee platforms. Users have an on-demand stream of music on their computer, mobile device, tablet, and home entertainment system.<\/p><\/div>Spotify<\/a> is a music streaming service that puts users in control of 20 million licensed songs [3]<\/a>. Spotify was launched in Sweden in 2008 and came to America in 2011.<\/p>\n
Spotify is financially a private company that offers over 20,000 new songs each day from major and independent labels including EMI<\/a>, Warner Music Group<\/a>, Universal<\/a>, & The Orchard<\/a> [3]<\/a>. Artists earn royalty when their music is played, and there are over 24 million active users currently in 55 markets [3]<\/a>.<\/p>\n
There are two revenue streams, free<\/a>, which is \u201cpowered by advertisers\u201d and\u00a0premium<\/a> for $9.99 monthly with extra features including no ads, offline, and high-quality audio [3]<\/a>.<\/p>\n
TEAM SPOTIFY:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n
\"[2]<\/a>
[4]<\/a> Spotify Founders- Daniel Ek & Martin Lorentzon<\/p><\/div>
\"Chief<\/a>
[5]<\/a> Chief Sales, Marketing, and International Growth Officer- Jeff Levick<\/p><\/div> <\/p>\n
\"[5]<\/a>
[6]<\/a> Chief Content Officer & Managing Director USA- Ken Parks<\/p><\/div>\n
\"[7]<\/a>
[7]<\/a> Head of Content- Steve Savoca<\/p><\/div>\n
 <\/p>\n
 <\/p>\n
 <\/p>\n
 <\/p>\n
 <\/p>\n
 <\/p>\n
 <\/p>\n
 <\/p>\n
 <\/p>\n
INSIDE SPOTIFY:
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n
\"Social<\/a>
Social Media Merges with Music- Using the “send to”, or “post to feed” options users can message music to friends and post music to their Facebook timeline, Twitter, and Tumblr within the Spotify application. Source: \u00a0Spotify<\/p><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n
Spotify<\/a> gives its users the option to connect with their social media Facebook<\/a>, Twitter<\/a>, and Tumblr<\/a>\u00a0accounts.\u00a0Users can create collaborative playlists, share music, view friends music and more which provides for ample music discovery and publicity for the company on social media platforms. There is also a\u00a0private session<\/a>\u00a0users can activate.<\/p>\n
 <\/p>\n
 <\/p>\n
Two other elements that Spotify<\/a> includes are apps<\/a> and Discover<\/a>. While these apps add dimension to the Spotify journey, Discover is essentially a constantly updated news feed.<\/p>\n
\"Discover-<\/a>
Discover- Spotify’s “news feed” feature on the desktop application. Updates with releases, playlists, artists recommendations, concerts nearby are posted, friends listening habits are shown all based on listening habits the user has shown. Source: \u00a0Spotify<\/p><\/div>\n
COMPETITORS:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n
Spotify<\/a> is a strong contender, but it’s competing neck and neck with Rdio<\/a>, Pandora<\/a>, Rhapsody<\/a>, Google Play Music<\/a>,\u00a0and Beats <\/a>on price, catalogue, platforms, and features [8]<\/a>. Beats Music<\/a>\u00a0entered the competitive on-demand music market in January [9]<\/a>, and is Spotify’s biggest challenger.<\/p>\n
\"Beats<\/a>
[10]<\/a>\u00a0Beats Music vs. Spotify- The two streaming services are extremely similar with the same catalogue size, the discovery element, and price.<\/p><\/div>\n
Beats<\/a> entry in the market put Spotify in “go-mode”.<\/p>\n
SPOTIFY’S\u00a0SITUATION:<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n
Competitor streaming services are continually emerging. With more choices presented to consumers, Spotify<\/a> has responded by shifting their focus to partnerships, acquisitions, customer satisfaction, and updated product development. The formula is to attract users to Spotify<\/a>, engage with users, and retain them.<\/p>\n
Partnerships<\/strong><\/p>\n
Last.fm<\/span><\/p>\n
Last.fm<\/a>\u00a0is a music recommendation service. In January, Spotify <\/a>and Last.fm teamed up to bring a beneficial on-demand playbar to Last.fm’s website. This makes it possible for Last.fm users to internally play the entire Spotify catalogue on Last.fm\u2019s website\u00a0[11]<\/a>.<\/p>\n
The collaboration works in both companies favor. Last.fm<\/a> users have a fuller experience with the power, \u201cto play whatever you want by whoever you want directly on Last.fm\u201d\u00a0[12]<\/a>. In addition, Spotify’s\u00a0catalogue incorporation provides a huge presence and\u00a0Last.fm<\/a> users conveniently have motivation to signup for Spotify to take advantage of the essential music player.<\/p>\n
\"The<\/a>
The Last.Fm Spotify playbar at the bottom of Last.Fm’s website. Source: \u00a0Lastfm.com<\/p><\/div>\n
SoundHound<\/span><\/p>\n
Spotify <\/a>also joined forces with SoundHound <\/a>for the\u00a0\u201cAdd to spotify\u201d feature on its iOS <\/a>application in February. SoundHound is a popular music-recognition app, similar to Shazam<\/a>. Banded together, SoundHound is now more interactive. After linking accounts, with the tap of a button users can automatically generate Spotify playlists of recognized songs without leaving SoundHound’s app\u00a0[13].\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n
\"Source:<\/a>
Hitting the “Add to Spotify” button automatically turns songs discovered on SoundHound into a Spotify playlist. Source: \u00a0SoundHound & Spotify<\/p><\/div>\n
The mutually-beneficial relationship brings life to identified songs through Spotify<\/a> playlists on SoundHoud<\/a>, and the incentive to use the button will drive users to subscribe to Spotify while giving them presence on a music app\u00a0[14]<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Coachella <\/span><\/p>\n
On top of that, Spotify<\/a> was presented with an amazing opportunity to have presence on site at Coachella as the Official Digital Music Partner of the Coachella Music and Arts Festival <\/a>in California in April. The\u00a0Spotify Social<\/em>\u00a0tent was an on-site air-conditioned tent that offered relaxation pods, chargers, a “Mosaic Photo Booth”<\/a>\u00a0that uses your Spotify account to generate a picture out of your most played album art, and art from artist Apex<\/a>\u00a0[15]<\/a>.<\/p>\n
\"k\"<\/a>
[16]<\/a> The Spotify Social tent, that capped at 150, gave people an air conditioning experience filled with music, more battery power, art, \u00a0and a Mosaic Photobooth that puts your face on album covers based on your Spotify listening habits.<\/p><\/div>\n
#WeWereThere<\/a> was Spotify’s digital interactive strategy at Coachella<\/a> to “connect, collect, share.” Implanted in every\u00a0RFID<\/a>\u00a0wristband was the power to capture the experience by checking in and\u00a0<\/strong>collecting\u00a0custom Spotify<\/a> curated playlists. The\u00a0“My Coachella Story”<\/a>\u00a0digital snapshot let individuals create memories of\u00a0their\u00a0festival concert experiences with playlists gathered [16]<\/a>. This collaboration not only transformed Coachella <\/a>goers into premium users, but also created a special experience and built relationships by reliving the festival on Spotify<\/a>.<\/p>\n
\"\"<\/a>
[15]<\/a>\u00a0“My Coachella Story”- an example of a digital snapshot that shoes distance traveled, the path taken, playlists, artists seen etc. To participate users needed to simply connect their wrist band with their Spotify accounts, look for check ins at the festival, use the wristband to collect playlists and then after generate their digital card and share it with family and friends.<\/p><\/div>\n
Sprint<\/span><\/p>\n
Lastly, Beats<\/a> launched with an AT&T<\/a> package family plan deal<\/a>. Rumors are circulating about Spotify planning to bundle with the #3 U.S. mobile carrier,\u00a0Sprint<\/a>\u00a0[17]<\/a>\u00a0in April. This partnership will give Sprint customers a free trial. Customers will be able to pay for Spotify directly through their Sprint Accounts, which will help Spotify<\/a> secure a greater market share and Sprint secure more data plans. Sprint and Spotify will announce the details on April 29th at a New York Event [18]<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Acquisitions<\/strong><\/p>\n
<\/strong>In efforts to boost the “discovery” element, Spotify<\/a> acquired The Echo Nest<\/a> in March\u00a0[19]<\/a>. The Echo Nest is a music intelligence company that examines listening behavior and makes musical recommendations. Spotify paid $100 Million, with 90% Spotify equity\u00a0[20]<\/a>. The Echo Nest previously powered\u00a0Rdio<\/a>\u00a0and Rhapsody<\/a>,\u00a0both of which ended their deals, deeming its technology invaluable to their operations right after Spotify acquired\u00a0[21]<\/a>. This potentially puts Spotify in the position to take The Echo Nest away from competitors.<\/p>\n
Combing the two companies gives The Echo Nest<\/a> a bigger audience and catalog, while Spotify, now with music-discovery data, will improve recommendation’s.<\/p>\n
Customer Satisfaction<\/strong><\/p>\n
With intentions to obtain more paying users Spotify<\/a> has updated its business model. In January the company\u00a0announced free music shuffling on iOS with a catch, non-premium users ads play in between every few tracks\u00a0[22]<\/a>. In February, Spotify added the “repeat one”<\/a> feature\u00a0[23]<\/a>.\u00a0Repeat one grants users the option to repeat a single track over and over\u00a0[24]<\/a>. These highly requested changes illustrate that Spotify cares about users.<\/p>\n
Working with a college students budget, Spotify slashed the premium $9.99 monthly rate to $4.99 in March\u00a0[25]<\/a>. They partnered with\u00a0SheerID<\/a>\u00a0to\u00a0validate eligibility. This price change is valuable because college students represent an important key demographic in streaming use\u00a0[26]<\/a>. This differentiates Spotify from other streaming services like Rdio<\/a> and Beats<\/a> that charge $10 monthly.<\/p>\n
Unique Product Development<\/strong><\/p>\n
Competition among streaming services leads Spotify to completely redesign its user interface layout on all platforms. Spotify<\/a> rolled out a sleek modernized look on April 2nd<\/sup>. This major design update was the first since its launch in 2008, and to keep current it was a smart move\u00a0[27]<\/a>.<\/p>\n