Spotify Considers Restricting Big Album Releases to Paying Users Only

All you paying Spotify users are about to get another exclusive privilege besides getting out of all those annoying "Ever wonder what it would be like to have Spotify premium?" ads. The Sweden-based company is looking to lower the royalty fees they have to pay to major record labels for their music, by compromising on their policy that all their music be free to paying and nonpaying users. Spotify would for a limited time restrict access on major album releases to their paying subscribers.

The Financial Times reported that Spotify has made progress renegotiating licensing deals with several major record labels. The company will pay lower royalty fees for artists' songs, but the biggest album releases will only be granted to paying users.

The company wants to build real profit on quick growth, and the deal is aimed to attract more investors. The deal would lift Spotify's position ahead of its much-rumored IPO, and encourage investors to convert the business into sustainable stock. Spotify has been struggling to get away from their freemium strategy and on the road to the stock market.

According to CNET, the company's IPO ambitions accentuate the current competition for streaming-music customers. Consumers for the last three years have changed from downloading music digitally to paying for monthly memberships with access to millions of songs.

Apple Music received 20 million paid users since 2015, but Spotify maintains a lead. The company is valued at $8.5 billion and has 50 million paying subscribers around the world.

So, all of us non-paying subscribers might just have to finally, grudgingly pay up.

Oh, and for the paying subscribers, have you ever wondered what one of those "ever wondered" ads sounds like? Just for fun, listen below!