As Spotify continues to work towards renewing its licensing deals with the three major labels, it seems that premium windowing is on the negotiating table.
“The streaming leader is discussing making some new music available only to paying subscribers in hopes of ending a months-long impasse with the major record companies,” claimed the New York Post this week.
This should come as no surprise to Music Ally readers: earlier this year we reported on an agreement to premium-window Radiohead’s new album ‘A Moon Shaped Pool’ on Spotify that fell through at the last minute because, according to Spotify, “we ultimately decided that we couldn’t deliver on those approaches technologically in time for the album’s release schedule”.
Although Spotify has historically pushed back against the idea of premium-windowing, allowing it now may represent the best compromise to stave off the prospect of further restrictions on the free tier that has been so important as a funnel for Spotify’s subscriptions growth.
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