Spotify has already started inserting sponsored songs into playlists.
Spotify is asking labels and artists to purchase adverts within the app in a bid to boost revenue. As Bloomberg reports, the streaming platform has already rolled out one such plan, Marquee, which allows artists and labels to send notifications to fans when new music is released for a fee of $5000 and up.
Bloomberg also reports that Spotify has been placing sponsored songs into listener’s playlists and is reportedly discussing plans to begin charging artists for access to their listener’s data. While details have not yet been announced, the streaming company is reportedly planning another new advertising model within the app, responding to shareholder pressure over low advertising revenue.
However, while several major labels have already used Marquee, smaller and independent labels are unhappy about the proposed changes, seeing it as a backdoor cut to royalties. Richard James Burgess of the American Association Of Independent Music told Bloomberg, “People aren’t very happy about it. Some labels feel like they’d promote music to people they will reach anyways, and it just reduces the royalty you make.”
Read our feature on Spotify’s bot problem.