No More Free Spotify? Fresh Deal Means Only Paying Users Can Listen To Some New Albums

A new licensing agreement between Spotify and Universal Music Group (UMG) will see major changes to Spotify.

In a statement released by Spotify, it was explained that the deal will give premium users exclusive access to new UMG albums for up to two weeks.

That means free users will still be able to listen to UMG albums, but will have to wait up to a maximum of 14 days after the release date. That’s not too bad, right?

Upcoming albums on UMG include Kendrick Lamar's new album and Lorde's Melodrama; both are likely to be behind this new paywall.

Chairman and CEO of Spotify, Daniel Ek, said that the partnership is built on a mutual love of music, and that Spotify will continue to work with UMG to break new artists and expand the fan universe for all.

”We know that not every album by every artist should be released the same way, and we’ve worked hard with UMG to develop a new, flexible release policy,” Ek said.

What's unknown is whether or not music piracy will increase due to this deal. If listeners still want to hear the latest Kendrick album for free, it could be hypothesised they will just find other less-legal avenues.

Unfortunately, the deal is now a little less sweet, but at least freebie lovers will still have access to music for the foreseeable future.

The question now, however, is will users remain loyal to Spotify? Or will they begin to pirate or defect to other streaming options such as Tidal or Apple Music?

Watch/listen to this space.

Photo: iStock