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Spotify exec says album exclusives are bad for everyone

Spotify won't try to lure subscribers with promises of albums and songs you can only get from its premium service, according to an interview with Billboard.

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Headshot of Jessica Dolcourt
Jessica Dolcourt VP, Content Operations and Commerce, CNET Group and CNET Labs
Jessica is a passionate content strategist and team leader across the CNET family of brands. She leads a number of teams, including commerce, performance optimization and the copy desk. Her CNET career began in 2006, testing desktop and mobile software for Download.com and CNET, including the first iPhone and Android apps and operating systems. She continued to review, report on and write a wide range of commentary and analysis on all things phones, with an emphasis on the iPhone and Samsung devices. Jessica was one of the first people in the world to test, review and report on foldable phones and 5G wireless speeds. Jessica began her leadership role managing CNET's How To section for tips and FAQs in 2019, guiding coverage of topics ranging from personal finance to phones to home. She holds an MA with Distinction from the University of Warwick in the UK.
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Spotify has 39 million premium subscription members.

 Screenshot by Jessica Dolcourt/CNET

In the pitched battle between subscription music services, don't look for Spotify to echo Apple Music's strategy of signing on premium subscribers by offering exclusive albums and tunes.

That's just bad for everyone, Troy Carter, Spotify's global head of creator services told Billboard in an interview. The theory is that someone who already invests in a yearly membership for one service is probably less likely to pay for another, similar service just to get the one exclusive album he or she wants.

Those listeners who don't pay to hear artists exclusively streaming on one specific service -- like Tidal and Apple Music -- can easily turn elsewhere to get the tunes for free, like YouTube or illegal download sites. And that, Billboard's article said, means less revenue for everyone who made the music happen: the streaming service, the producer and the artist, too.

Not that Spotify "needs" to lure fickle subscribers with an exclusive siren song. Its 39 million paid subscribers eclipses the 15 million paid user base that Apple Music announced in June.

Spotify didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.