The Wall Street Journal reports that Spotify is finally rolling out video content this week in Germany, Sweden, the UK, and the United States. The content will first arrive on the Android app within the next few days, followed by the iOS app by the end of next week. Spotify originally said that video would be added to the music streaming service back in May 2015.
So, whats taken so long? According to Spofity vice president of product Shiva Rajaraman, the slow rollout was intentional in order to gather content, experiment, and test the service on less than 10 percent of Spotify’s users before launching to the masses.
Back in May, the original announcement said that Spotify had landed deals with the likes of ABC, Adult Swim, BBC, Comedy Central, NBCUniversal, TBS, and numerous others. Since then, however, content has consisted of short clips, although there are companies producing original music-themed content specifically for Spotify.
Rajaraman said that the problem Spotify will face is getting users to look directly at the app. The video service will be for the mobile clients only, people who typically have the Spotify app running in the background for listening to music. Getting customers to actually focus on the app will take some “consumer training.”
“Obviously, our primary user is a music fan, and they are not necessarily leaning in and looking into the app,” he told the paper. “So there are no particular recipes for how to get this right.”
During the extended testing period, Spotify learned that people will watch videos that are relevant to the type of music they consume. However, Rajaramen told the WSJ that the company will focus on offering programming packages, such as “News of the Week” and “”Laughs at Lunch” rather than provide multiple ways of seeking out video content.
Initially, video won’t be a money maker for Spotify. In fact, the company is paying partners to license the content, so end users won’t see advertisements in the video clips… at least, not yet. Spotify is more interested in end users, new and existing, to consume the service on a daily basis. Both subscribers and non-subscribers will have access to the new video content.
Ultimately, Spotify’s video service is about giving music fans what they want, Rajaraman said. Currently, the company makes its money selling a premium ad-free music streaming service, and from ads on the free service. Money-wise, Spotify is doing just fine, he indicated.
From maximumpc
