The controversy from WMG’s recent comments on free ad-supported music services – as well as NPD’s research on cannibalisation of downloads – continues. Spotify boss Daniel Ek has once again defended his company from such accusations, speaking at a Financial Times conference in London. “What a lot of people in the music industry talk about is cannibalisation – getting the most profitable customers to become free users. That obviously doesn’t work. But we are convinced and seeing a lot of research that actually we are doing the opposite: we are taking pirates and moving them into a legal service.” Ek also says that labels are starting to see the financial returns. “We are already one of the biggest accounts for many of the labels. At the growth rates we are having now, we are probably going to be one of the top four accounts globally for many of the record labels.”
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