Non-subscribers will be able to listen to an artist's discography or their own playlists, with the interspersed use of advertisements.
The expansion of Spotify's free version to smartphones and tablets was announced from New York by Daniel Ek, CEO & founder of the music service. Until now, those who did not have a subscription could use Spotify exclusively from a PC, without having access from their "smart" device.
From now on, non-subscribers can download the app for iOS or Android and listen to all the playlists they have created, as well as those of those they are following. Also, with the shuffle function, they can enjoy the entire discography of the artist they choose.
As with the free version of Spotify for PC, ads are interspersed between songs. However, smartphone owners cannot listen to tracks or entire albums on demand, which is only the case for non-subscribers using a computer or tablet.
The additional features that will continue to be available only to subscribers are that they can "download" music to their "smart" device, to listen to it even when they don't have an internet connection. They also don't hear ads, while the music is played in better quality.
According to Ek, Spotify has 24 million active users worldwide, of which 6 million are subscribers. With the free version of the music service for mobile devices, it is expected to grow the user base, thus increasing advertising revenue. The Spotify CEO also claims that it will act as an advertisement for the subscription version, thus multiplying the company's customers.
At the same time, Ek announced that Spotify is expanding to 20 new countries, so that it can now be accessed by users in a total of 55 countries. He also announced that all of Led Zeppelin's albums are being added to the service's "discotheque." For years, the band has been one of the most prominent opponents of online music services.
Source: portal.kathimerini.gr
