Spotify caving, allowing some acts for paid-only?

Image: Coldplaywithheld its latest LP from free services to generate more money

Update: Spotify’s Global Head of Communications and Public Policy, Jonathan Prince has released a statement:

“We are 100 percent committed to our model because we believe that a free, ad-supported tier combined with a more robust premium tier is the best way to deliver music to fans, create value for artists and songwriters, andgrow the industry.

“In that context, we explored a wide range of promotional options for the new Coldplay album and ultimately decided, together with management, that Coldplay and its fans would best be served with the full album on both free and premiumthis Friday.”

According to speculation, Spotify is planning to soften its strict policy that all music be available on both freemium and paid tiers for its 80 million users.

But it is considering whether to allow some artists to offer their new releases for the 20 million who subscribe at US$10 a month for a time before then accessing them to the other 60 million users.

Spotify has so far confidentially let slip to music executives of its plans. It would most likely only be a test at this stage, to see how it would affect ‘new subscriber’ take-ups and if withholding a major release from freemium users would see them shift to YouTube instead.

It has still not chosen which act would be the first. It would also face a backlash from acts not chosen for special treatment.

But the move, even if only a try-out, would be a major concession to record companies which have been aggressively pushing to get more revenue from streaming companies.

Taylor Swift and Coldplay (pictured) are just two major artists who withheld records from free services to generate more money from streaming. Adele’s refusal to have 25 on any streaming services has no doubt led to the album’s phenomenal traction in stores.

These are important issues for streaming services to face, as it increasingly becomes the mode of choice for fans to consume their music. A new report this week from US broadband company Sandvine shows that streaming media now accounts for more than 70% of broadband traffic during peak hours in America – double what it was five years ago.

Coldplay’s new album A Head Full of Dreams was kept back from streaming services with a free tier but was on subscription-only services as Apple Music, Tidal and Amazon Prime.

It will become available on Spotify from this Friday on both free and paid versions.

Spotify said: “We explored a wide range of promotional options for the new Coldplay album and ultimately decided, together with management, that Coldplay and its fans would best be served with the full album on both free and premium this Friday.”

A Head Full Of Dreams looks like heading to be the week’s best selling new release, tipped to sell between 150,000 to 175,000 in America and 159,341 in the UK.

The US sales show that A Head Full Of Dreams will be much less than the 383,000 triggered in its first week by 2014’s Ghost Stories. This is possibly because of the short 18-month gap between the releases of the two albums.

The time between Coldplay announcing the album and its release meant that the promotion behind A Head Full Of Dreams has not been whipped up enough.