that has all of the music that everybody loves. Each country has amazing indie labels that really represent the local talent – and that’s something we’re very passionate about.” “Then you’ve got publishing houses, collection societies and aggregators, so there are a lot of players in the music industry. And in every country we go into there’s a conversation with everyone.” So far Spotify have licensing agreements with over 300 000 rights holders. Sunita says that they are simultaneously working on all markets Spotify is not available. “When it comes to going live in a market, our first and very most important start is the music. And depending on how negotiations go we will decide which will be the next market to go live in and we tend not to talk about a roadmap until the day we go live.” The localisation also includes pricing models that differ across the world, where a lot of research goes into finding the right price that would appeal to as many people as possible.
Intelligence for discovery The development of this star t-up since its inception is very much based on how the users consume music, where Spotify has bought some, to quote Sunita, “amazing companies” to improve
the product’s music intelligence. “We always say we are a music company in our hearts but we are a tech and data company in our heads. Spotify is a beautiful combination of all those things,” says Sunita. A telling example is the way the intelligence helps the user to discover the music that is more in line with one’s taste. “Every song is tagged, so the more you listen to on Spotify the better the music recommendations will be that we will make to you because we are gradually understanding better and better what kind of music you’re listening to.” So, every Monday each user gets a completely customised two-hour playlist based on their listening habits and who they are following on Spotify. And that grows together with what they’re listening to. “The real light bulb that went off across our heads that really impacted our business was how people look for music. This happened a couple of years ago when we started seeing that the way we were all looking for music, and even making playlists were by moments such as: ‘running’, ‘cooking’ or ‘songs I sing to in the shower’… the lists went on and on.” “This goes back to the tech world we live in today; gone are the days of building products inside the companies and releasing them to the
world. What tech companies do now is to really spend time and look at the trends; how people are using our products, how people are using Spotify. And we take that and make it better and easier.” Spotify also points out that music is inherently social, that it is meant to be shared. And in the digital world a lot of music that one could not previously get hold of (released in 500 copies on 12” vinyl or simply sold out) is increasingly being re-released digitally. This forms a goldmine for rediscovering all but forgotten music, and for long unavailable music not least within the underground dance scene. Sunita comments that this is spot on how Spotify fulfils an important role for spreading and sharing music. “All the music from the 50s and the 60s and the 70s, how is our generation going to keep it alive because we can’t go out and buy their CDs anymore!? And this is something my husband and I do quite a lot; like sharing the sounds of our generation with our nephews and nieces. This is a story that gets told a lot around dinner tables; keeping music alive. I remember growing up with up and falling in love with Elvis Presley because of my mom. She would keep her generation of music alive.” December 2016 • ScandAsia.Singapore 15