As from May 1st, online music service Spotify is limiting its free service to 10 hours per month, half the time currently offered, and users will only be able to listen to tracks five times. New users will get six months of free content before the changes kick in.
The news has angered fans who accuse the firm of seeking to change its model from free to paid, the so-called ‘freemium’ system, although this is something denied by Spotify.
Last month, the online music service announced that it had one million paying subscribers across Europe, but the majority of its 6.67m listeners use the free service, which is subsidised by adverts. The premium option removes the adverts.
Trying to maintain an ad-based free service is not a viable long term proposition according to many experts.