The business model for the music industry used to be an extremely tedious, time consuming and expensive process.  If a person wanted to purchase Kendrick Lamar’s new album, he or she would have to go to the local record store and pay for the album.  Today, one can simply type Kendrick Lamar into the music service, Spotify, and his entire library of recorded music will be available free of charge.  While some may believe that Spotify, founded in 2006 in Sweden, takes profit away from musicians, it is actually beneficial to the music industry.

Listeners are able to download Spotify to their computers or phones, enabling them to listen to the music of their choice.  Aside from the occasional adds, Spotify is an easily accessible source for customers to find all of their favorite music.  For $4.99 a month, listeners have none of these interruptions or restrictions.  Moreover, users are able to download the premium version on their mobile devices if they pay $9.99 a month, allowing them to access Spotify on the go.  By using Spotify, people can save hundreds of dollars each month, as they do not have to buy each song or album.

Record companies and musicians have legally agreed to place their music on Spotify.  In fact, the application has extensively curbed the number of illegal downloads throughout the world.  In 2009, a survey conducted by The Guardian in England concluded that out of the 2,310 people surveyed; 27 percent who admitted to pirating music now use Spotify instead.  Spotify is picking up the fragmented pieces of the music industry that Napster and Limewire damaged years ago.

Spotify has almost 15 million users and the number continues to grow daily.  The music service is a great way for smaller, independent musicians to find an audience of loyal fans.  Spotify, similar to Netflix, has created algorithms that allow the company to recommend music to users based on their playlists and genre preferences.  Moreover, it enables users to share music with their friends and family via Facebook, Twitter and other social media sites.  Though Spotify has only been available in America for a year, listeners in the United States have played over 13 billion songs and have shared over 27,834,742 songs, according to The Verge.  As a result, artists become more popular and their music reaches a wider audience.  This leads to an increase in concert ticket sales for bands which is an additional potential source of revenue.  Artists continue to produce revenue from their music because Spotify pays a premium to musicians and record labels for the right to publish their work.  Every time a person listens to a Kendrick Lamar song on Spotify, the up and coming rapper receives a profit.

Spotify is a safe alternative to illegally downloading and buying music, and the service benefits both listeners and artists alike.  Spotify also serves to reduce the influence corporations have on the music industry.  Listeners are not obligated to follow the price fluctuations of iTunes and artists can easily work independently to get their music to a large audience.  Spotify has created a sustainable business model for this generation of people.   The music business is constantly evolving and Spotify is proving to be the way of the future.  It is not only revolutionizing the music industry but also transforming mass communication.  Because Spotify allows its users to easily share music preferences and favorable playlists, it gives family and friends another way to interact via a new medium.