Our time as a bunch of musical freeloaders may well be drawing to a close – at least as far as Spotify is concerned.
The mega popular music streaming service pioneer is now planning to put some newer releases behind a premium paywall, as part of negotiations with rights holders,
Since launching almost ten years ago Spotify has remained steadfast in making its entire library available to all users for free – albeit with lots of annoying adverts, time limits and restrictions for mobile users.
The service has long been resisting pressure, not only from record companies, but also from its paying customers who feel that just because they’ve made the decision to pay a tenner a month, everyone else should have to too.
Artists such as Taylor Swift and a sizeable handful of others refuse to have their music streamed through Spotify.
“It's my opinion that music should not be free, and my prediction is that individual artists and their labels will someday decide what an album's price point is,” Swift wrote. “I hope they don't underestimate themselves or undervalue their art.”
Thom Yorke is another star who has actively expressed his dislike for the streaming service. In 2013 he Tweeted: "Make no mistake new artists you discover on Spotify will no get paid [sic], meanwhile shareholders will shortly being rolling in it."
Yorke had also previously referred to Spotify as “the last desperate fart of a dying corpse”.
However, the Atoms for Peace and Radiohead frontman ate his words in 2016 and now several of his albums are available to stream on the service.
Whatever you think of it, if you’re a Spotify user and you want to access all of its musical content, then you might soon have to get your wallet out.
Fair enough if you ask us.
