14 DAY TRIAL // Spotify is becoming increasingly popular in Europe and it's poised to take a shot at the US market as well. But despite its success and popularity it still needs to turn up the revenue generation and the ad-supported model can't sustain the service by itself. It's pushing hard to get more people to subscribe to the premium service but also to buy more songs through Spotify, something that most users aren't even aware that is possible.
The service's cofounder and CEO, Daniel Ek, actually revealed this issue in a blog post recently, saying that, despite Spotify being one the biggest referrers for music download services, many users still don't known they can also buy the music they like through Spotify. The company was already working on it though and has now launched an updated desktop client that makes the buying options stand out but also simplifies the entire process, as the Music Ally blog revealed.
With the new desktop application every track that is available for download in 7digital's, Spotify's traditional partner, catalogue will sport a “buy” button next to its name in the lists. Users will also be able to buy whole albums with the “buy album” button. Previously users had to right click on a track to see if it's available for buying, this of course if they knew that it was possible. The process was also a little more convoluted as the users were redirected to a website where they could purchase the track.
The whole thing can now be done inside the Spotify app, a welcomed change for most users. Clicking on the new buy button pops up a window with details on the track and the price and a form to fill in the billing details. The tracks are DRM-free and in the MP3 format so they can be copied and played on portable devices. The music is saved in a dedicated folder on your computer and can later be played in the Spotify app too.
