In the past, streaming platforms have often shown themselves to be creative when developing new subscriptions. The standard subscription was soon followed by new premium offers. Yet another partially ad-financed lite model is intended to attract those looking to save money. Spotify is also said to be considering new ways of earning money from its subscribers and is planning to expand its offerings, as Bloomberg reports.
The current ways of streaming music on Spotify are not set to change. Simple streaming, including advertising, will continue to be offered free of charge. The structure of the premium subscription will also remain unchanged at its core. However, the platform–similar to Amazon with its Music Unlimited streaming service–wants to charge extra for higher audio quality in the future. Spotify is, therefore, working on a new subscription option called Music Pro, which can be added to the existing Premium subscription.
Better Sound, AI Remixes, and Concert Tickets
In addition to playing music at an increased sound quality, Spotify plans to make the extra charge worthwhile for its users with at least two other features. In the future, users will be able to use a new remix function that allows two songs to be combined into one–with the help of artificial intelligence, of course.
The platform operator is also reaching out even further regarding concert tickets. Users of the platform can already search for tickets to their favorite artists’ concerts through the app. With Music Pro, the introduction of a dedicated ticket store is imminent. This addition is intended to make buying tickets more attractive through additional options such as better seats or exclusive advance sales. The app is also set to be expanded to include a kind of wallet in which tickets can be stored.
Spotify is in Search of Revenue
Music Pro is set to be launched in the USA later this year at a price of $5.99. This is in addition to the regular price of Spotify Premium. Other regions around the globe are to follow in stages, although no detailed information has been made public. The respective prices also don’t appear to be set in stone.
Despite its success, Spotify is under pressure. The company was able to increase its revenue from $768 million in 2013 to $15.76 billion last year. However, profits did not keep pace with the development of the service. Only throughout the last year did the company manage to report profits throughout all quarters.
