Rumor: Spotify only wants paying users to stream the latest albums

Music service Spotify only wants paying users to stream new music albums in the future. This is probably the result of negotiations between the music service and record companies. Spotify wants to go public soon and is therefore negotiating deals.

By not allowing users of the free service to stream the latest albums, Spotify wants to make its paid service more attractive. As a result, record companies also receive higher fees from Spotify. The music service and the record companies are likely to close the deals in the coming weeks to months, business newspaper Financial Times reports, citing sources who are aware of the content of the conversations.

With the new deals, Spotify wants to make itself more attractive for an IPO that must take place later. The intention is to convince more of the customers who are currently purchasing the free version to pay for the music service.

At the moment all music is available to all users, but the free version does have limitations compared to the paid version. For example, the free version has ads and users can skip songs limited. The offline storage of music is also reserved for paying customers.