Spotify Managing Director Kate Vale thinks the online music streaming market will shake out in the next few years, with some of the current players folding.
Of course she hopes Spotify will be one of the survivors.
Kate Vale was speaking in a Mumbrella Google Hangout session discussing the future of music streaming companies in Australia, the 6th largest music market in the world.
Asked about the crowded Australian streaming music market, and whether it is sustainable with all the current companies in the market right now, she said:
“It is absolutely not sustainable… the Australian market is pretty attractive, it’s the 6th largest music market in the world, we spend more per capita than other huge countries around the world [but] what you see in most markets is that it’s not sustainable…
“What generally happens is that 3 or 4 players will succeed… I’d like to think that in a few years time we will be one of those survivors…
“For us to survive, we need to stay ahead of the curve and make sure we maintain a good market share… and constantly innovate.”
With radio companies in Australia aligning themselves with a variety of streaming services, they will be hoping that they have picked the right one if Vale’s prediction is correct. Kate Vale joined Spotify in 2011, after working for Google Australia and previously YouTube.
Following up the interview, an article in Music Network today quoted Vale further discussing her competition.
“People like to compare us to this competitor or that competitor, but our biggest competitor, hands down, is piracy. Around 2.8 million Australians download music illegally via file sharing networks every year, three quarters of these claim to download every month. On average, Australians illegally download approximately 30 songs a month, which totals a staggering one billion songs per year…
According to The Music Network, Vale anticipates the Australian market will follow countries like Norway where years of lobbying for tougher anti-piracy laws saw music revenue rise exponentially and piracy drop to less than one fifth of the original level.
The full Mumbrella interview is below.
Spotify is the least flattering platform as an artist.
I'm an indie artist who sold over 18000 copies of my last single on one quarter and only made $1600 in sales. Simply because platforms like Spotify are subsituting sales with streaming. Sadly we live in a world where creative mediums are now free., and as the creator behind those mediums it's no longer a lucrative career. My first song that got signed in 2001 was given an advance of $20k by the label, now the same label expects artist to chip in and help make the release work.
I hope this has given some insight to readers and consumers who think streaming is great and wonderful, remember for you to enjoy it others are suffering. I'm not aggressively suggesting you stop using it, not at all, but perhaps ask yourself what it would be like at the end of each week when your employer transfers your pay into your account to have multiple corporations take that money from your account before you have the chance to pay your bills and tell you, "too bad, this is the way it is now and if you don't like it change careers".
Hey 'Robbed', please stop telling me I should buy your $20 EP because I like the hook on that one song. I'll only play it 20 times until I'm bored of it which equates to $1 per listen. That's unfair on me that you price yourself alongside Michael Jackson but give me Friday night karaoke quality.
Times change and so do business models. Don't use the 'back in my day' excuse. Go make music good enough to get your next advance form a record label and can earn enough money through streaming services because everyone will stream it on repeat they love it so much.