InfoAnda - Hit streaming service Spotify eyes U.S. music fans

Pakistanis angry over detentions in Times Sq. case
Monday, May 24, 2010
ISLAMABAD – Relatives of three men detained by Pakistan for alleged links to the suspect in the attempted Times Square bombing say the men are innocent.
They

Taiwan denies boycotting Australian film festival
Thursday, August 6, 2009

AFP - Thursday, August 6TAIPEI (AFP) - - Taiwan's Beijing-friendly government on Wednesday denied boycotting an Australian film festival amid a row over the e

Merkel's support dips, regional ally resigns International
Thursday, September 3, 2009

By Sarah Marsh and Noah Barkin

BERLIN (Reuters) - Chancellor Angela Merkel suffered a double blow on Thursday as a senior party ally in east German

Minister seeks closure of anti-Berlusconi websites
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
ROME (AFP) - – The Italian government moved Tuesday to close down Internet sites encouraging further violence against Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who

Asian markets mixed after Wall Street rally
Wednesday, March 18, 2009

By ELAINE KURTENBACH,AP Business Writer AP - Wednesday, March 18SHANGHAI - Asia's stock market rally seemed to be running out of steam Wednesday, despite an

Clinton holds talks with UAE foreign minister | 24 February 2010
Bangladesh garment workers riot over wages | 31 July 2010
Egypt opposition calls for second day of protests | 26 January 2011

Poland moves to fill key posts after plane crash | | 13 April 2010

Forum Views () Forum Replies ()

Read more with google mobile : Hit streaming service Spotify eyes U.S. music fans

Yahoo! My Yahoo! Mail More Yahoo! Services Account Options New User? Sign Up Sign In Help Yahoo! Search web search Home Singapore Asia Pacific World Business Entertainment Sports Technology Hit streaming service Spotify eyes U.S. music fans Reuters - Tuesday, November 3 Send IM Story Print By Antony Bruno DENVER - MTV Urge ... Yahoo Music Unlimited ... Virgin Digital ... Since 2003 -- when iTunes launched in the United States -- all of these digital music services have come and gone, without challenging Apple's market dominance, despite the backing of resource-rich parent companies. Add in all the startups that have crashed and burned in the same time period and it starts to look as if no service could ever rival iTunes' traction with customers and critics. Until now. The Sweden-based startup Spotify, launched for public access in October 2008, has momentum like no other digital music service of the last six years. It offers on-demand music streaming, in both free and premium services, and now claims to have more than 6 million users in Sweden, Norway, Finland, the United Kingdom, France and Spain. At one point it reported signing up new members at a rate of 50,000 per day, although that figure has fallen since September, when the service restricted its free version to invited guests in the United Kingdom. Spotify has won high marks from reviewers for the ease with which it provides access to a catalog of more than 6 million tracks from majors and indies alike and the unobtrusive way it delivers advertising. Spotify's recently launched mobile version -- available for the iPhone and Android-powered devices in Europe to premium subscribers who pay the equivalent of around $15 per month -- has won similar praise. Although Spotify doesn't comment on its fund-raising activity, it has reportedly won $50 million worth of backing from investors -- at a valuation of $250 million, an almost unheard-of sum for a music venture in today's stingy venture capital environment. The European service also has the full support of the major labels, which reportedly negotiated a collective 18 percent stake in the company. Yet this momentum will be tested severely as the company prepares to enter the United States -- the No. 1 music market in the world -- with a launch expected either late this year or early next, depending on how fast it completes its negotiations with the majors. "It's been talked about so much I don't think it can meet everyone's expectations," says Forrester Research analyst Sonal Gandhi. "If the Spotify experience can be as good as hyped, it has a lot of potential." With negotiations ongoing, U.S. labels are reluctant to comment on the service. According to music industry sources, the labels are impressed with Spotify's achievements but want the service to start generating real revenue. To do so, it must take care not to let the usage model outpace the business model. There are certainly early signs of success. In August, Per Sundin, managing director of Universal Music Sweden, told the Swedish press that his company now earns more revenue from Spotify than iTunes. But that's in Sweden, where the service was born and where iTunes doesn't have the dominant hold on the digital music market it does elsewhere. "We've seen income from Spotify follow a steep growth curve since launch," says Paul Smernicki, director of digital and direct-to-consumer at Universal U.K.'s Polydor Records. "Excluding mobile, they are pretty high up the list as a revenue stream for us. But we're certainly not in the same position as Sweden." Scott Cohen, the London-based founder/VP of international at the digital distribution and marketing company the Orchard, says Spotify is already boosting income for labels in two ways. "First, the more tracks are streamed on Spotify the more downloads occur on other services," he says. "We are not seeing any cannibalization. Second, revenue streams from advertising have been steadily increasing and have overtaken many niche stores in Europe." But the ad-supported free service alone can't generate the revenue Spotify needs to pay for the music it plays. The company reported a net loss of $4 million last year, and its decision to limit its free service in the United Kingdom to invited guests implies a high burn rate. That means Spotify has to increase the number of users for its premium service. So far, however, music subscription services like Rhapsody and Napster haven't been able to reach a mass audience. In its most recent quarterly earnings report, RealNetworks said Rhapsody has about 750,000 subscribers. Napster had 700,000 subscribers when Best Buy acquired the company last year, but hasn't released updated figures since. While Spotify plans to make mobile access a key element of its conversion strategy, the mobile music market has also yet to take off. Spotify has confirmed it will launch in the United States with a "slightly different model" than in Europe, although it has yet to disclose details. THE AD-FUNDED MODEL Calling Spotify a free ad-funded music streaming service would be accurate but unfair. The company has paying customers, but they number less than 10 percent of its user base, according to comments from CEO Daniel Ek at a recent London conference. And company executives say that's unlikely to change. "We expect the large majority of our users to stay with free," says Gustav Soderstrom, who left his job as director of business development at Yahoo to join Spotify as its head of mobile. "We're monetizing it through ads and through selling downloads , so it's a significant revenue source." So far, no ad-funded service has been able to turn a profit from advertising and download revenue alone. Which is why Spotify doesn't intend to. Using the "freemium" model, the company hopes to convert a portion of its free user base to the premium tier. The free Spotify service could be seen as a customer acquisition play -- and perhaps not the most expensive one out there. Napster once estimated its customer acquisition cost at $100 per user, due to all the advertising needed to explain its subscription model. "It makes the if you start with no users," Soderstrom says. "You have to put a lot of marketing dollars into getting users' attention to even consider signing up. We don't have to do that." Free access to any song on demand is powerful bait and Spotify offers what amounts to an indefinite trial period. Rhapsody and Napster usually limit their trial periods to about a week, after which users either need to pay or use only 30-second samples. That may not be enough time to get users hooked on the access model. Despite the popularity of Spotify's free tier in Europe, Rhapsody America VP of business management Neil Smith doubts it will roll out the same way stateside. "The reason Spotify blew up so big and so fast was it was free," he says. "That model isn't going to happen in the U.S. anytime soon, maybe ever. The U.S. is the market where the labels make all their money. They can't afford to have a service that doesn't generate substantial revenue suck up all the usage. If it was $15 out of the gate, it wouldn't have a million users. Once you take the free piece away, we compete pretty well." So Spotify will have to ensure its ad-supported service remains worthwhile and not degrade it in order to push users to the paid version. Devaluing the free service would risk losing users, which in turn would threaten its function as a customer acquisition tool as well as limit any hopes of generating revenue from it. THE SUBSCRIPTION MODEL For all the hype Spotify gets for the popularity of its free tier, there's no guarantee it can match that success as a paid service. Until its mobile option launched, Spotify's premium tier only offered the elimination of ads -- which weren't very intrusive to begin with -- and slightly better audio quality. The iPhone and Android apps add portability to that mix, but it's still not much different in price or function to portable subscription offers from Rhapsody and Napster. "The value proposition of subscription has to change," Forrester's Gandhi says. "There has to be ownership. There has to be something besides just renting music." Gandhi specifically points to subscription plans that allow users to keep a certain number of songs per month, such as the five tracks Napster gives away as part of its $5-per-month streaming plan and Zune's 10 free downloads. Another option comes from Pali Capital analyst Richard Greenfield, who recently suggested that mobile operators and Internet service providers should bundle the Spotify premium service into their data plans. The idea of bundling is nothing new, but Spotify's ability to synch content across the different platforms makes it a more viable option. Soderstrom says Spotify would consider such options, but only if they weren't exclusive. THE MOBILE MODEL Spotify is hanging its hopes of converting free users to paid users on the mobile application. But it doesn't want to position itself as a mobile service. "I wouldn't say Spotify is a mobile service first," Soderstrom says. "You're going to do the majority of your browsing and discovery on your desktop, at least for some time. But if you want to use Spotify as your primary music service, then you're going to need the mobile option." Previous portable subscription options required transferring tracks from desktop to portable device, which users needed to synch with an online service at least once per month to refresh the licenses. Services were based on digital rights management technology from Microsoft that had a reputation for being unreliable--and the dominance of the iPod had made them irrelevant. Spotify gets around this by using mobile phones to stream the music rather than download it. Since mobile networks are notoriously unreliable, it created a way to temporarily cache more than 3,000 songs on supporting mobile phones, without using the 10 GB of storage normally required to do so--although users must still connect to Spotify every 30 days to verify their premium subscriber status. Mobile options have already paid huge dividends for music services like Slacker, Pandora and Clear Channel's iheartradio. Pandora, for example, says more than 45,000 of the 65,000 new registrations it gets every day come from its various mobile apps. "Our future is going to be more mobile-centric than I had even thought, and sooner," Pandora founder Tim Westergren says. But those are free applications. Rhapsody beat Spotify to the U.S. market with an iPhone app that lets users paying $15 per month stream any song from the service's catalog as well as their playlists and Internet radio stations, but to date it doesn't have a local caching option. The U.S. mobile music market is also much tougher than that of Europe, where Spotify launched its mobile service in early September. According to a Forrester Research study, 27 percent of U.K. mobile subscribers with Internet access use their phone to play music at least monthly. In the United States, that figure is only 10 percent. U.S. mobile operators and labels alike hope Spotify will help goose these figures. "There's definitely potential there," says one mobile operator. "I think we'll get the typical technology hype curve -- lots of hype going into market, pause and then either decline or hype again based on reality. Spotify has a chance to be a big deal." THE EUROPEAN MODEL Spotify's European success is impressive, but the U.S. market can be more competitive -- and more fickle. "Spotify has a good chance of success in the States if they can make the right distribution partnerships," the Orchard's Cohen says. "But it will require a different strategy than in Europe." And a win stateside would do much more than just cement Spotify as a legitimate player in the global digital music game. It will finally broaden the digital music market beyond iTunes and add a new usage model beyond track sales. "Spotify is not the first streaming service in the world, just like iTunes wasn't the first digital download store," Cohen says. "What it does that is so special is make a fairly complex model seem easy to execute. They have a great team running the company and I wouldn't bet against them." And while other U.S. music industry sources remain only cautiously optimistic, Spotify has confidence. "There are certainly more music services in the U.S. than there are in Europe," Soderstrom says. "So, yes, it's more competitive. But I still think we have a better experience and a better offer. We wouldn't do it if we thought we were going to lose." Recommend Send IM Story Print Related Articles S.Korea seeks Chinese help to track cyber attacks AFP - Tuesday, November 3 US-TECH Summary Reuters - Tuesday, November 3 Hit streaming service Spotify eyes U.S. music fans Reuters - Tuesday, November 3 Global crisis hitting IT spending: Microsoft chief AFP - Monday, November 2 Cisco, EMC team up on cloud computing: sources Reuters - Saturday, October 31 News Search Top Stories Ford swings into profit as North America rebounds Eurozone manufacturing expands in 17-month first Scientists map genome of pig Nepal cabinet to meet on Everest: minister Europe probe tracks global warming impact on water More Top Stories » ADVERTISEMENT Most Popular Most Viewed Most Recommended Somali centenarian weds 17-year-old US lender CIT files for bankruptcy Slumdog stars 'may lose allowance' for skipping school Israel delays expulsion of 1,200 children of foreign workers Employment turnaround likely at start of 2010: Geithner More Most Viewed » Somali centenarian weds 17-year-old Mobile phone giant Nokia sues Apple over patents Huge dinosaur find in China 'may include new species' More Most Recommended » Elsewhere on Yahoo! Financial news on Yahoo! Finance Stars and latest movies Best travel destinations More on Yahoo! News Home Singapore Asia Pacific World Business Entertainment Sports Technology Subscribe to our news feeds Top StoriesMy Yahoo!RSS » More news feeds | What are news feeds? Also on Yahoo Answers Groups Mail Messenger Mobile Travel Finance Movies Sports Games » All Yahoo! Services Site Highlights Singapore Full Coverage Most Popular Asia Entertainment Photos Copyright © 2009 Yahoo! Southeast Asia Pte. Ltd. (Co. Reg. No. 199700735D). All Rights Reserved. Terms of Service | Privacy Policy | Community | Intellectual Property Rights Policy | Help

Other News on Monday, 2 November 2009
Ten killed as Iraq hit by new spate of bombings
Italian police arrest fugitive mafia brothers
Gulf single currency may face delay: bank chief
Sudanese register for first free vote in 24 years
Israel holds Jewish settler accused of killing Arabs
Honduran opposition leader key to ending conflict | International |
Iran police to confront "illegal" November 4 rallies
Kosovo hails ex-president Clinton, unveils his statue | International |
Dozens killed in Somali fighting: rights group | International |
Saudis find arms cache linked to August arrests
Sudanese register for first free vote in 24 years | International |
Frustrated in Iraq, U.S. troops eye Afghan action
Iraq polls 'at risk' without vote details
Obama community college proposal may not be enough
Med, nursing schools teaching alternative remedies
Analysis: With few options, US accepts Karzai
Govt says swine flu vaccine catching up to demand
Geithner: Economy rebounding, but job growth lags
Seattle police say officer killed in shooting
Pakistan's capital now resembles besieged city
White House: Afghan troop decision within weeks
Protectionism a threat to recovery: Chinese official
Afghan challenger drops out of runoff election
Limbaugh calls Obama 'immature, inexperienced'
Acid ship 'sinks in China's Yangtze'
Iran warns of crackdown on any opposition protest
Pakistan zeroes in on major Taliban bases
Flex spending accounts face hit in health overhaul
Thai police arrest two people in stock rumour probe
China stamp fetches record price
Pakistan hopes to rout Taliban by late December
S.Lanka seek to stop US quzzing general over war
Michael Jackson film dances to No. 1 worldwide | Entertainment |
Truck, pilgrim bus collide, killing 8 in Indonesia
Honor Student Shot Dead Outside Of Homecoming Football Game
Suspect In Baghdad Bombing Killed After Struggle With Interrogators
Temporary 9/11 Memorial set On Fire
Seattle Police Officer Shot And Killed
White House Releases Visitor's List
Police Launch Manhunt For Convicted Rapist After Six Bodies Found In Home
U.S. Troops To Be Stationed In Colombian Bases
Economic High Points And Low Points For Week
VIX Rises 20 Percent On U.S. Market Worries
Federal Investigation: Results In On Drywall Chemicals, But Implications Still Uncertain
Russian envoy says Miliband visit chance to 'reset' ties
Karzai rival Abdullah quits Afghan run-off | International |
British govt in new bailout to troubled banks: reports
US lender CIT files for bankruptcy
Iran wants U.N. fuel plan reviewed | International |
Israel delays expulsion of 1,200 children of foreign workers
At least 15 killed in Rawalpindi blast: police | International |
Kosovo hails ex-president Clinton, unveils statue in his honor | International |
Norwegian warship in sea-battle off Somali coast: EU
Employment turnaround likely at start of 2010: Geithner
Miliband in Russia to thaw ties
Putin tells EU of risk to gas supply via Ukraine: reports
Italian police arrest fugitive mafia brothers
Taiwan president safe after smoke pours from plane | International |
Boat with 40 people sinks near remote Cocos Islands | International |
Iran frees two Karoubi allies on bail: media | International |
Hawaii celebrates canonization of first saint
Texas vets reunite with Japanese-American rescuers
Bay Bridge won't be open for Monday morning drive
NH restaurant sets meatball record
Mexico reaches record of 100 extraditions to US
North Korea calls for direct talks with U.S
Rescue under way after boat sinks off Australia
New York City Marathon Sees First American Win In Two Decades
Afghan's Karzai effectively handed 2nd term
Pakistan security forces kill at least 7 militants
Police: NJ mom stabbed son, self over custody fear
Japan aims to bury greenhouse gas emissions
China vaccinates over 3.7 million for swine flu
Hundreds of foreign militants on run: Pakistan army
Boat with 40 people sinks near remote Cocos Islands
Philly transit talks postponed until Monday
Mexico extradites 11 fugitives to US
Over 20 feared dead as boat sinks off Australia
GOP ex-candidate endorses Democrat in NY race
Already the main Afghan war hub, Bagram is growing
Aliens target Earth again in "V" revival
No eternity with Marilyn Monroe as crypt auction fails again | Entertainment |
S.Korean display makers plan $6.9 bln capex in 2010
Scandal does not hurt David Letterman's ratings | Entertainment |
Mel Gibson and girlfriend welcome a baby girl: media | Entertainment |
Transsexual Miss World contest aims to boost awareness
New Zealand growth to quicken in H2
Seoul shares fall 1 pct; Hyosung up on Hynix news
S.Korea manufacturing growth slows in Oct
Jackson tragedy begets cinematic triumph | Entertainment |
S.Korea T-bonds rally on weak shares, U.S. woes
Berlin Wall resurrected in Los Angeles
Seoul shares open 2.4 pct lower on U.S. jitters
UK singer Cheryl Cole scores chart double
Calle 13, Luis Fonsi set for Latin Grammy awards
Jackson tragedy begets cinematic triumph
Aliens target Earth again in V revival | Entertainment |
Calle 13, Luis Fonsi set for Latin Grammy awards | Entertainment |
Michael Jackson's 'This Is It' thrills movie-goers
HBO filmmakers get inside Obama campaign
UK singer Cheryl Cole scores chart double | Entertainment |
Michael Jackson film dances to No. 1 worldwide
Qatari firm in talks to make Prophet Mohammad film
Iran wants new nuclear fuel talks, deepening doubts
S.Korea seeks Chinese help to track cyber attacks
Scientists map genome of pig
US-TECH Summary
Hit streaming service Spotify eyes U.S. music fans
Bomb blast in Pakistan's Rawalpindi kills 35 | International |
Nepal cabinet to meet on Everest: minister
Karadzic to appear in war crime court | International |
Global crisis hitting IT spending: Microsoft chief
Analysis: Iran in no hurry to cut nuclear deal
Karzai declared Afghan vote winner
Europe probe tracks global warming impact on water
Arab states disappointed with U.S.-Israeli talks | International |
Iran wants new nuclear fuel talks | International |
China slams U.S. for sending Uighurs to Palau | International |
Slumdog stars 'may lose allowance' for skipping school
Al Qaeda calls for home-made bomb attacks in West | International |
Civilian deaths in Iraq jump higher in October | International |
Recovering Thai king appears in public again | International |
Crisis has not halted migration hope of poor: Gallup | International |
Taiwan president safe following flight incident
Hit streaming service Spotify eyes U.S. music fans | Technology |
15 feared dead as boat sinks off Australia
Malaysia state helps jaded couples beat the blues
Scientists decode DNA of pig, a research favorite
Tribes claim wind farm would destroy sacred ritual
Obama to meet with economic board, Swedish PM
Massive fire blazes on leaking Australian oil rig
Murder trial to begin in Ark. TV anchor's death
Blast kills 35 in Pakistan's Rawalpindi
Audit: KBR must trim Iraq work force or face fines
Cheney FBI interview: 72 instances of can't recall
China protest halts Bangladesh Tibet exhibition
Bombing outside bank kills at least 20 in Pakistan
Focus falls on cause of collision off Calif. coast
Blast near Pakistan's capital kills at least 20
China chief says space arms inevitable: state media
Taxing the rich
Suicide bomber kills 34 outside Pakistan hotel
Health care plan hits rich with big tax increases
Trio of Japanese automakers lift forecasts
Shen Wei: Top China modern dance group takes time
Elton John aims for return to stage after illness | Entertainment |
Palestinian film, Team Qatar win Doha festival prizes
Bridgestone to quit F1 in late 2010
East of the Iron Curtain, humour helped society cope
Sands looks to raise $2.5B with Hong Kong IPO
Corruption dispute flares in Indonesia
Michael Jackson film dances to No. 1 worldwide | Entertainment |
Indonesian inflation up 2.57% in October
"Twilight" sequel soundtrack hopes to make killing
Twilight sequel soundtrack hopes to make killing | Entertainment |
China start-up stocks plunge on profit-taking
Military 'terps' head to war to win peace -- and visas
Arab filmmakers struggle for funds as industry grows | Entertainment |
Driver-less car in high-speed rally assault
Seoul shares fall 1.4 pct; Hyundai Motor tumbles
S.Korea c.bank to collect $1.2 bln in FX loans
Suzuki Motor profit down 63.4 pct in first half
Scandal does not hurt David Letterman's ratings
German child-care subsidy sparks nursery spat
Thai inflation rises for first time in 2009: govt
Indian Kashmir starts safaris as violence falls
No eternity with Marilyn Monroe as crypt auction fails again
Greece at new risk of being pushed off euro
Bodies of missing Tenn. mom, Jo Ann Bain, and daughter found
Female Breasts Are Bigger Than Ever
AMD Trinity Accelerated Processing Units Now in Volume Production
The Avengers (2012 film), made the second biggest opening- and single-day gross of all-time
AMD to Start Production of piledriver
Ivy Bridge Quad-Core, Four-Thread Desktop CPUs
Islamists Protest Lady Gaga's Concert in Indonesia
Japan Successfully Broadcasts an 8K Signal Over the Air
ECB boosts loans to 1 trillion Euro to stop credit crunch
Egypt : Mohammed Morsi won with 52 percent
What do you call 100,000 Frenchmen with their hands up
AMD Launches AMD Embedded R-Series APU Platform
Fed Should not Ignore Emerging Market Crisis
Fed casts shadow over India, emerging markets
Why are Chinese tourists so rude? A few insights

USD EUR - 1 year graph		BlogMeter 1.01