Spotify to become default music service on all future Samsung devices
Music streaming heavyweight Spotify has just inked a deal with the world’s largest smartphone manufacturer Samsung. The Spotify app will be available when customers set up their new Samsung phones, and will also be integrated into Samsung’s smart TVs and speakers.
Spotify is available as both a free and paid service, though the free version contains visual and audible advertising throughout. The deal will hopefully boost the music-streaming service’s user base, the companies announced at an event on Thursday. The deal saw Spotify shares rise as much as 5.2 percent on Thursday. This brought them to $188, which is the biggest intraday gain in two weeks.
“We believe that this significant long-term partnership will provide Samsung users across millions of devices with the best possible music streaming experience, and make discovering new music easier than ever—with even more opportunities to come,” Spotify CEO Daniel EK said in a press release. “Of course, it will also help artists reach new fans. Our goal has always been to make music accessible to everyone by giving a million creative artists the opportunity to live off their art and billions of fans the opportunity to enjoy and be inspired by it.”
This deal is not the first to automatically integrate a streaming service into devices, with Verizon Communications Inc. in the U.S. this week announcing a deal to give its customers six month of Apple Music for free. Australian companies like Vodafone offer Spotify Premium for free with select phone plans, and a 3-month Premium trial with all Optus plans.
An extensive report published by Citigroup states that in 2017, artists received just 12% of the total $43 billion revenue made by the music industry. The most revenue is netted by the middlemen; record labels, online distribution services and radio stations apparently make the most from music sales.
This article originally appeared on The Industry Observer, which is now part of The Music Network.