I'm interested in seeing if their better than piracy strategy will actually work.
Rhapsody had tried the same thing in the mid 2000s, letting people play songs for free.
They seem to think that people who aren't willing to pay for music will use Spotify because it lets you play free music, and then magically decide to start paying for mobile access. But the reality will probably be these users sticking to their less than legal ways and keeping their mobile access via iTunes. So without the compelling free component, it ends up being just an improvement over other music subscription services, and music subscription isn't really a groundbreaking new model.
...or Perhaps subscription is the model of the future and there hasn't been a large enough marketing push educating people yet...
Rhapsody had tried the same thing in the mid 2000s, letting people play songs for free.
They seem to think that people who aren't willing to pay for music will use Spotify because it lets you play free music, and then magically decide to start paying for mobile access. But the reality will probably be these users sticking to their less than legal ways and keeping their mobile access via iTunes. So without the compelling free component, it ends up being just an improvement over other music subscription services, and music subscription isn't really a groundbreaking new model.
...or Perhaps subscription is the model of the future and there hasn't been a large enough marketing push educating people yet...