Spotify's Free Streaming Music Service May Be Coming to iPhone and iPad

[MacRumors]

Streaming music service Spotify is reportedly in negotiations to make its free subscription tier available on smartphones and tablets, according to a report from The Verge.

Spotify, the popular music subscription service, is due to meet in the coming weeks with its major counterparts in the record industry to renew their licensing agreements. The Verge has learned that managers at Spotify are expected to ask for substantial price breaks from the music labels as well as the rights to extend its free pricing tier to mobile devices.

Currently, Spotify Free is only available on computers, with a $9.99 Premium subscription required to access the service on an iPhone or iPad.

Spotify's argument will likely be that it needs this agreement in order to achieve profitability. Despite 5 million paying subscribers and a further 15 million free ones generating ad revenues, Spotify is believed to be operating at break-even.

Streaming music services like Spotify and Pandora have had an uneasy relationship with music labels and artists, with the latter complaining about the extremely low level of payments made for the right to stream music. Several major artists, including Coldplay and Adele, refuse to allow their music to be streamed by Spotify for this reason.

Apple is rumored to be planning to launch its own streaming music service to complement iTunes, but industry sources claim that the company has so far made little headway in agreeing terms with record labels.

Article Link: Spotify's Free Streaming Music Service May Be Coming to iPhone and iPad

[Bryan55]

Listening to Coldplay on Spotify right now.

[John.B]

If they still require a Facebook login, I'm not interested.

[jabingla2810]

Originally Posted by John.B

If they still require a Facebook login, I'm not interested.

Why not?

[rorschach]

Originally Posted by John.B

If they still require a Facebook login, I'm not interested.

I'm glad I signed up before they started requiring that. I know several people who won't join because they'd have to use a Facebook account.

[FSMBP]

Originally Posted by John.B

If they still require a Facebook login, I'm not interested.

I made a dummy Facebook account it (using my junk email address). It's worth getting access to all that free music.

[basesloaded190]

How will bringing their premium service over to iPhones and iPads for free make them more money?

[Dwalls90]

I'm sure this has nothing to do with Apple's rumored radio service.

----------

Originally Posted by basesloaded190

How will bringing their premium service over to iPhones and iPads for free make them more money?

Advertisements.

[1080p]

Adele not on Spotify????

[lifeinhd]

Originally Posted by John.B

If they still require a Facebook login, I'm not interested.

Beat me to it. Looks nice, but useless to me if FB is a requirement.

[Böhme417]

Wouldn't it be nice to mark this occasion by redesigning the iPhone app to make it a little more pleasant to use...

It boggles my mind how it has 5 stars in the app store.

[whooleytoo]

Originally Posted by rorschach

I'm glad I signed up before they started requiring that. I know several people who won't join because they'd have to use a Facebook account.

What happens if you sign up using a Facebook account? Does it post to your wall?

[lifeinhd]

Originally Posted by FSMBP

I made a dummy Facebook account it (using my junk email address). It's worth getting access to all that free music.

Suit yourself. I'd rather not add to FB's "number of users" statistic. It's the principle of the thing.

[cdsfire]

Spotify offers a free radio version on the iPhone. It's not the on-demand version like on the desktop but it's similar to Pandora or Slacker.

Spotify hasn't required a Facebook login since mid 2012, stop freaking out.

[basesloaded190]

Originally Posted by whooleytoo

What happens if you sign up using a Facebook account? Does it post to your wall?

You can turn that off.

[ArtOfWarfare]

Originally Posted by basesloaded190

How will bringing their premium service over to iPhones and iPads for free make them more money?

I, for one, will use it quite a bit more meaning I'll be subjected to more ads meaning they'll make more money from me.

But it seems to me that this will kill a major incentive for people to upgrade from free to premium, and my understanding is they make 3x as much money from premium users vs. free users.

They'll have to find out how many fewer people will pay and how much more often free users will be subjected to ads to figure out whether this will increase their revenue or not.

[basesloaded190]

Originally Posted by cdsfire

Spotify offers a free radio version on the iPhone. It's not the on-demand version like on the desktop but it's similar to Pandora or Slacker.

Spotify hasn't required a Facebook login since mid 2012, stop freaking out.

You are correct.

https://www.spotify.com/us/signup/open/

[Chris.L]

Originally Posted by John.B

If they still require a Facebook login, I'm not interested.

Originally Posted by FSMBP

I made a dummy Facebook account it (using my junk email address). It's worth getting access to all that free music.

Originally Posted by lifeinhd

Beat me to it. Looks nice, but useless to me if FB is a requirement.

Just looked at the sign up page and it allows you to sign up using an email address as well as connect via Facebook.

Edit: Damn. Beaten to it.

[street.cory]

My guess would be that the Free Mobile subscription of Spotify would not include Offline Mode (unless ads could be played when playing offline files).

For me, 10 bucks a month for unlimited Spotify, no ads, and the ability to store songs on my iPhone (saving that precious data) is well worth it.

Until Apple comes up with something.

[basesloaded190]

Originally Posted by ArtOfWarfare

I, for one, will use it quite a bit more meaning I'll be subjected to more ads meaning they'll make more money from me.

But it seems to me that this will kill a major incentive for people to upgrade from free to premium, and my understanding is they make 3x as much money from premium users vs. free users.

True. The main reason I upgraded to a premium account was both mobile use and offline use. I would imagine they would keep the offline use for premium members which might make me stick around paying.

[gonca]

I've been using recently spotify without any facebook data. That step can be ignored during the registration..

[leon44]

Originally Posted by John.B

If they still require a Facebook login, I'm not interested.

I'm sure they'll be gutted to not have you and the other 3 people on Earth who think are too cool for Facebook

[bushido]

probably US only thx to contant bs being different for each country. oh well i got free spotify premium & unlimited music data with tmobile anyway

[mattopotamus]

Spotify works just like pandora, better IMO, right now =/

[PlanetExp]

Originally Posted by MacRumors

[...] Spotify is believed to be operating at break-even.

All those sports cars are indeed expensive to have around the office.