Big changes for Spotify today, as it goes toe-to-toe with Apple’s iTunes application and store. Spotify is launching its own music downloads store selling songs for as little as 50p a track through MP3 bundles, while also introducing iPod syncing from its desktop application and opening up its mobile apps to Spotify Free users. Spotify wants its desktop app to be the default music player AND store for its more-than nine million users, and it wants its mobile app to be their default music player on the move. The download store is intriguing from a licensing perspective too: it’s been built in-house, rather than run by former partner 7digital, and is aimed at free users more than premium users. People can buy tracks a la carte, but it’s more based around the idea of buying playlists: 10 tracks cost £7.99 (just under 80p a track), with staggered pricing culminating in £50 for 100 tracks, at 50p per song. Labels have signed up to the idea, with Spotify promising “100% of the catalogue”. “Because we have managed to do successful things with our Premium service, we have enough faith from labels that they’re prepared to try something new,” chief product officer Gustav Soderstrom tells Music Ally. For full details, see our blog post .
Tools: platforms to help you reach new audiences
Tools: Kaiber
In the year or so since its launch, AI startup Kaiber has been making waves,…