Although Spotify has traditionally functioned as a complement to users’ music libraries, its Downloads feature changed this. Spotify’s music downloading service was launched in May of 2011 throughout most of Europe, and aimed to compete with mainstays in the digital music world such as iTunes and Amazon MP3. As it turns out, many of the features that were already in Spotify made the service a legitimate option for buying music. Many users who try Spotify might find themselves never wanting to buy from another service again.
Buy DownloadsPricing
Any time a new music downloading service becomes available, the first question that anyone asks is about pricing. iTunes set bar by offering tracks and albums at low prices. Since then, most services have had to compete by offering songs and albums at a lower price. This was the case with Google’s new music downloading service, and the story remains the same for Spotify.
Spotify Downloads is a unique service because, instead of relying on individual tracks and album sales, songs are instead sold in bundles. Although users can still buy individual tracks or whole albums, bundles are used as a way to entice more customized purchasing. The more songs a person buys at once, the more money they will save on their purchase. For instance, a bundle of 100 songs can be bought for £50, which effectively lets users buy songs at 2 songs for £1. However, a bundle of 10 songs costs £7.99, putting the price of an individual song at just under £1.
It’s clear what Spotify is trying to accomplish with this pricing model. Instead of offering songs at a lower rate than iTunes and having users snipe individual tracks at low volumes, Spotify is offering deep discounts in exchange for commitment to purchasing a large number of songs. The idea of buying songs in packs also ties in to the idea of selling users the playlists that they build through the Spotify service. Since there are bundles in 10, 15, 40 and 100 songs, most users will be able to buy a bundle of songs that is sized appropriately for the playlists that they want to buy.
13000000Library
Aside from pricing, the service’s music library is another crucial component for users considering Spotify Downloads. Fortunately, Spotify has leveraged their ability to stream nearly all of the world’s recorded music and included their entire library in the download service. This means that users have more than 13 million songs to choose from and buy. By having such a vast library readily available, Spotify Downloads is in a good position to attract users and grow.
High QualityPlaylist Sync
One of the coolest features about Spotify is the ability for users to create playlists on their computers or phone, and then have those playlists sync across all of their devices. But for users who don’t have Spotify Premium, mobile access is unavailable. Spotify Downloads gets users of the free Spotify service around this by allowing them to buy a playlist they’ve created at a discounted rate. Thanks to this, users can download their playlists and take them with them wherever they go, but don’t have to commit to the recurring monthly fee that a Spotify Premium account requires.
30 Day ExpiryTry Before You Buy
This may be Spotify’s biggest advantage over competing stores. While other music downloading services allow users to listen to a clip of a song before purchasing, Spotify provides free access to all of their songs. Users can listen to a song as many times as they like before purchasing. This means users won’t find themselves listening to a song once or twice, purchasing it, and then realizing that it was a bad decision. In essence, any money spent on Spotify will turn out to be money well spent.
Spotify Downloads is more than another music store. It’s a completely new way to buy music, both in terms of cost and how songs are purchased. This downloading service offers enough benefit to the user that it should attract a decent user base.
