Spotify to invest more in original content

Spotify is planning to invest more in original content, two of its executives have confirmed.

Global Head of Creator Services Troy Carter (pictured) and Chief Content Officer Stefan Blom were speaking at the Wall Street Journal’s WSJDLive conference in Laguna Beach, California last Tuesday.

Blom said that in the next six to 12 months, Spotify would pump more money into original videos and marketing events with artists. These would, hopefully, they said, include Taylor Swift and Adele who famously pulled their releases from Spotify because they didn’t want them featured in the platform’s free tier.

Carter, the former manager of Lady Gaga and John Legend brought in by Spotify to build bridges with artists and the music industry, said a prime focus was to create custom soundtracks for its 100 million users (40 million of which are subscribers) through ad-supported and premium platforms.

According to Bom, artist exclusives which other streaming services use as a key way to build up subscribers, are not part of Spotify’s strategy.

“We don’t believe that [exclusives are] good for the artist… We are not partaking in that game. I think you need to meet the fans wherever they are.”

Carter added that Spotify’s free service would not act as a gateway to paying customers. “I don’t think we’re ever going to get to a world where everybody on the planet is going to pay for music. (A user listening free with ads) may never convert to a paid subscriber…but they’ll be able to afford a concert ticket, they’ll be able to afford a t-shirt.”

Blom insisted that the music industry was making money from the free tier. “Someone (advertisers) is paying for the consumption. We are monetising it, and we are monetising it well. This ad-supported model works.”

Despite fast growth, doubling revenue in 2015, Spotify has struggled to make profit due to royalty payments to labels and artists, and continued investments in international expansion.