SPOTIFY ON THE SPOT AS SUBS STALL

Spotify’s new paid subscriptions in Q1 have been disappointing, according to rights holders. After a strong showing with a premium sign-up discount—three months for 99 cents helped the service push its subscriber base to from 20 million to 30 million—the streaming company’s sign-up rate has stalled. The dip has some wondering if the company will reconsider its past refusal to window new releases on its paid tier.

This development comes at a time when The Spot’s shortcomings have been most noticeable. Prince’s death led many fans to the service only to find none of his classic material was available on the service. Add to that the number of chart-topping artists—Adele, Beyoncé, Drake, Taylor Swift, Jay Z, Rihanna and Radiohead, to name a few—who have opted to withhold their albums from a service that offers a freemium (ad-supported) tier.

Several of these acts have, however, allowed a couple of key tracks to stream on Spotify, essentially using it as radio to build awareness and demand for the albums that were available elsewhere behind a paywall.