New albums from some Universal Music artists will be available only to premium Spotify subscribers for the first two weeks of release, the two companies have announced.
The deal means that for the first time ever, users of Spotify’s ad-supported free tier will not have access to the full catalogue of music on the streaming service. Instead, they will have to choose between paying up – the paid-for tier begins at £9.99 a month – or waiting another two weeks.
Universal Music artists include Beck, Lorde, Katy Perry and Kanye West, as well as thousands of others. The streaming service says that artists can choose whether or not windowing applies to their work.
The move, first rumoured in March, sees Spotify abandon its long-held stance that all music should be available to free subscribers, to encourage more people to sign up and then potentially convert them to a paid subscription down the line.
Daniel Ek, chairman and chief executive of Spotify, said: “This partnership is built on a mutual love of music, creating value for artists and delivering for fans. We will be working together to help break new artists and connect new and established artists with a broadening universe of fans in ways that will wow them both.
“We know that not every album by every artist should be released the same way, and we’ve worked hard with UMG to develop a new, flexible release policy,” Ek added.
Singles by Universal Music artists will continue to be available to all users.
Lucian Grainge, chairman and chief executive of Universal Music Group, said: “Today, streaming represents the majority of the business. Our challenge is transforming that upturn into sustainable growth. In a market this dynamic, one evolving more rapidly than ever before, success requires creative and continual re-evaluation of how best to bring artists’ music to fans.”
Spotify’s largest competitors, including Apple Music and Tidal, do not have free tiers though both services allow time-limited free trials.