Last month Spotify introduced free shuffled music streaming for its mobile apps, and now the company is taking it one step further by offering free unlimited streaming on its desktop and web browser apps. While this feature has always been offered as a 6 month trial, the recent announcement ditches the streaming time limit completely for users in all countries.
While some music streaming services seem to be having a problem balancing the paid subscription based model and the ad-driven free business, Spotify fortunately is finding a way to keep things moving and profitable.
With the launch of Beats Music service looming, the company likely feels that it will have to remain competitive to retain its position. The Beats service has a lot of industry backing and support behind it from the Beats headphones group to influential artists and industry vets like Trent Reznor and Jimmy Iovine. It also has a lot of money behind it, Beats Music streaming service is set to launch on January 21 alongside quite an intensive marketing campaign that involves a Super Bowl ad, AT&T exclusive deals and endorsements from Ellen DeGeneres, among other things.
Beats Music service will offer 20 million-plus songs for around $10 a month, which is essentially the same deal as most of the other big names in the streaming game. Only time will tell if Spotify can remain creative enough to maintain its position against the deep pockets and well-known industry personnel behind Beats.