According to a report released late yesterday by Bloomberg, Spotify, one of the world's leading streaming music companies, is looking to create a new service similar to Pandora. The service would not replace Spotify's current model, however, instead acting as complementary service.
Currently, users can select specific songs, artists and albums they want to play via Spotify's service; in the new service, users would start with a song, artist or genre, and the service would choose other tracks to play based on the user's previous choice, similar to Pandora's service model. According to Bloomberg's report, such a a service is cheaper to run due to lower royalty rates and regulations set by Congress. The service is currently only planned for release in the United States, although it could expand to additional territories later, similar to how Spotify's current service was expanded from Europe to additional territories.
The new service would allow Spotify to play music from artists and labels that currently lack licensing agreements with the company, as the service would be classified as a radio outlet, and radio is governed by federal rules and regulations, unlike Spotify's current service. Artists and labels that don't have licensing agreements with Spotify still wouldn't be playable through the company's current service offering, however. Notable artists lacking licensing agreements with Spotify include The Beatles, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Metallica and Adele.
Spotify's new service is said to be eyeing a launch date of later this year. A Spotify spokesperson declined to comment when contacted by Bloomberg.
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