Spotify cuts back on free music

The online music service has announced today that it will be cutting back on its free version of its service in its next update in May.

Spotify is a service that offers users the ability to legally listen to whatever kind of music they wish for no cost, in return you have adverts played in amongst your playlist. A small price to pay for having unlimited access to all the music you could ever of wanted. But now they have announced that Spotify will be reducing the amount of free music you can listen too.

Current users of its free service will be limited to 10 hours per month, half the time currently offered. The news has angered fans who accuse the firm of seeking to change its model from free to paid. This is something denied by the firm. Although Spotify had just recently announced it has reached 1 million paying members mark. Like most online serivces Spotify also offers a premium  service,
unlimited music with removed adverts and the ability to take your
playlists with you on the go. From this achievement I can very well see why they think that reducing the free version should not ruin the companies ability to make money.

Spotify announced on its blog that the new changes would only effect the mostly heavier users of the service.

Here's how the changes will work:
- New Spotify users will be able to enjoy our unrivalled free service as it is today for the first 6 months.
- As of May 1st, any user who signed up to the free service on or
before November 1st 2010 will be able to play each track for free up to a
total of 5 times. Users who signed up after the beginning of November
will see these changes applied 6 months after the time they set up their
Spotify account.
- Additionally, total listening time for free users will be limited to
10 hours per month after the first 6 months. That's equivalent to
around 200 tracks or 20 albums.
Spotify also said they would offer a free 30 da trial of the premium service during the month of May.

Are you a Spotify free user? Would this change make you want to upgrade to gain more access to your music?

Author: / Posted: 14-04-2011