After many months of anticipating by countless Dutch music freaks (including myself), the day has finally come: Spotify is here! The Swedish music streaming service is available in The Netherlands as of today. Yours truly has been enthousiastic ever since I visited my friend in London who was using it while I was there: it's free, you can find almost any artist you're looking for and you stream the songs online, so no more excessive data storage! Although I was sceptical at first (sometimes it looks like cool concepts like these never seem to reach our small country), I've tried it today and I must say: the rumours are true! Spotify is great! So what's the business model? Here's a commercial that explains Spotify how works and positions it as the next step in the evolution of music:
Spotify is a programme anyone can download for free and install on their computer. With a personal login code, you can access your profile with your stored playlists and favourite tracks from any computer (if the software is installed, of course). There are three kinds of subscription possibilities: Free, Unlimited and Premium. Users can get access to Spotify for free, but then they'll hear advertisements between the songs. With an invitation for a free account you have unlimited access, without one you'll only get 20 hours per month. Unlimited users pay € 4,99 and get no adverts, and Premium members get several extras for € 9,99 per month: enhanced mp3 quality, access to Spotify on your mobile and exclusive content.
Once you've chosen your kind of deal, you can start listening to the 8 million tracks that are currently availble. Spotify also has many plug-ins to connect your listening behaviour to social networks, such as Last.fm or Facebook. Happy listening!
Showing posts with label music. Show all posts
Showing posts with label music. Show all posts
Tuesday, 18 May 2010
Monday, 12 April 2010
New meets old: bol.com is selling vinyl
Next Saturday, April 17, Record Store Day takes place in The Netherlands. The first edition was held in the US in 2008, but since last year independent Dutch record stores also celebrate their existence with this special day. With in-store performances, signing sessions, workshops by musicians, exclusive releases and many other activities, Record Store Day should draw the attention of a large audience.
The last few years have not been easy for independent record stores. Due to the growing influence of the internet, (il)legal downloading and the large chain stores, sales numbers decreased and many small store owners had no choice but to quit.
However, one of their main competitors, media-giant bol.com recently launched another trick on their sleeve: they started selling vinyl records. With this expansion of their assortment, bol.com is now reaching out to the traditional clientele of the independent record store: specialist music lovers that enjoy browsing through the records for hours. Although vinyl may come off as sinister hobby for dinosaurs, this is certainly not the case. CD-sales may be going downhill rapidly, the sales of vinyl records increased from 1.9 million units in 2008 to nearly 2.8 million units in 2009 in the United States.
Marketing director Michel Schaeffer of bol.com sees the offering of vinyl records as a step forward in the direction of becoming "the perfect record store" (source: 3VOOR12). And since bol.com is also a supplier of electronics, those who aren't yet in the possession of a traditional record player are served as well.
As a music lover and a supporter of independent record stores, I say: let's hope this will not do too much damage for the retaillists. But as a student in business communication and digital media I say: smart move, bol.com!
The last few years have not been easy for independent record stores. Due to the growing influence of the internet, (il)legal downloading and the large chain stores, sales numbers decreased and many small store owners had no choice but to quit.
However, one of their main competitors, media-giant bol.com recently launched another trick on their sleeve: they started selling vinyl records. With this expansion of their assortment, bol.com is now reaching out to the traditional clientele of the independent record store: specialist music lovers that enjoy browsing through the records for hours. Although vinyl may come off as sinister hobby for dinosaurs, this is certainly not the case. CD-sales may be going downhill rapidly, the sales of vinyl records increased from 1.9 million units in 2008 to nearly 2.8 million units in 2009 in the United States.
Marketing director Michel Schaeffer of bol.com sees the offering of vinyl records as a step forward in the direction of becoming "the perfect record store" (source: 3VOOR12). And since bol.com is also a supplier of electronics, those who aren't yet in the possession of a traditional record player are served as well.
As a music lover and a supporter of independent record stores, I say: let's hope this will not do too much damage for the retaillists. But as a student in business communication and digital media I say: smart move, bol.com!
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