Spotify’s Will Page backs government plans

Will Page hasn’t even been in the country a week and he’s already influencing the government. Spotify’s Director of Economics met with Malcolm Turnbull on Tuesday to discuss Australia’s online piracy issue and present Spotify’s recent research. In doing so, he’s assisted government in making a decision on which schemes best combat online copyright infringement.

Also here for BIGSOUND, Page addressed conference delegates this morning at Brisbane’s Judith Wright Centre in a mini-keynote where he presented the insights from the company’s research in further detail. Page detailed Spotify’s positive impact on music piracy, saying the downward trend of music piracy relates to both volume and population. He also discussed Australia’s music marketplace vs. its video marketplace. Page said the local music market is far more competitive than the film and TV marketplaces, which explains why video piracy is five times more common than music piracy. According to Page there’s more piracy of Game Of Thrones in Australia than all music put together.

“The challenge we face most of all is habitual behaviour; that will take all telcos, ISPs and stakeholders to tackle it,” Page said.

He also revealed the five most popular Australian acts on Spotify are Flume, Vance Joy, Iggy Azalea, Sia and Bliss N Eso and that the top five Australian export acts on Spotify are New World Sound, Airborne, Ariel, The Rumjacks and Ivan Gough. Page revealed that both Azalea and Sia have accumulated 100 million streams each overseas.

Speaking to TMN afterwards, Page said that while the pricing debate helped cement Spotify’s decision to offer its subscription service for $10 a month, more consideration is needed where ever-changing exchange rates occur.

“One thing I’ve been made well aware of since touching down in Sydney is consumer prices and how high they are in Australia. But equally, remember exchange rates change over time. I think the pricing debate needs to be joined up with the exchange rate.”

Page said his work with IFPI and LPA (Live Performance Australia) revealed that even through the recession during 2009 Australian music fans were still spending on live music, however it’s completely dependent on who’s out on the road.

“I don’t think the appetite for live is going to start slowing, I think it’s just going to keep on going,” Page told TMN.

Page said he will meet with Live Performance Australia whilst in the country.

When asked why there are acts who are doing well overseas and not so well at home, Page used Melbourne quartet Hiatus Kaiyote as an example.

“Let’s just imagine this, why is it that 90% of their demand on Spotify is happening outside of Australia? Is it because there’s a conventional Australian label, PR and marketing push with all the contracts associated with that, or is it just because it’s been plucked from a triple j playlist, put on a playlist that’s huge in America and viral traction kicks off.

“I’m not saying it always happens that way but it’s definitely happening that way more often, where the push or the spread of a song has been driven by the user.”

Page says Spotify is tackling that issue by turning its users into broadcasters, encouraging them to make playlists that are followed by others and have the potential to go viral (some playlists have 30,000 followers).

While Page’s research has come at a curious time in terms of the government’s recent moves to curb online piracy, he said it was completely serendipitous.

“The timing of this event was quite bizarre and quite fortunate in that I got interested in Australia because of the perennial debate about pricing and the Hollywood window and I thought maybe if I get some free time after my holiday in Spain, I’ll try and dig into it.

“At the same time Spotify was screaming ‘when’s the work coming!’ In that space of time, the whole world started watching Australia with copyright reform and the case of fair use and the ISP debate.”

Page supports Malcolm Turnbull’s proposals; he believes there’s an opportunity to learn from others’ mistakes and others’ successes, like the UK’s Digital Economy Act. He said Australia needs to decide what works for the local marketplace.

“My advice is the same as Malcolm Turnbull […] A late adopter can make a great implementer. It matters because you’ve got amazing bands, you’re fortunate from the base-line up – which is you’re English speaking and you’re economy is booming out of its skin – you’ve got an amazing collection society in APRA […] the stakes are high but so is the reward.”