Spotify is considering giving some of the artists on its service the privilege of withholding some of their music from free users, according to a new report from The Wall Street Journal.
Citing multiple unnamed sources, the publication says Spotify is preparing to try out the new approaching in a limited test; the company is keen to gauge how withholding music from its free users will affect service usage and subscription sign-ups before it makes a commitment to labels and rights holders.
In the past, Spotify’s CEO, Daniel Ek, has argued the structure of the company’s free service was essential to its ability to compete with services like YouTube where users can listen to music on-demand and for free.
[source]The Wall Street Journal[/source]
