The Music Industry

I have recently made a conscious effort to keep up with the latest news about the situation of the music industry. After being in crisis for quite a long time (and still currently there), I have noticed that the media is really trying to turn the situation round and get the music industry back up and running like before. I have recently begun to notice efforts in Spotify adverts. With 'Spotify Free' after every few songs, your music stream is interrupted with a couple of adverts. These adverts used to always feature new artists and recommend different bands suited to the listener. However, recently, Spotify has been trying to introduce the idea of buying the 'Spotify Premium'  experience. This enables an 'ultimate Spotify experience' including unlimited music, no ads, mobile availability, offline mode (to use Spotify without internet), availability of Spotify abroad and enhanced sound quality. All these features have been produced specifically for 'Spotify Premium' which asks for £9.99 a month for access to all this. This very reasonable price gets more money for Spotify to spend on advertising for artists and therefore gets the word around that they are here with brand new albums etc. This money also goes towards more advertising for Spotify to make their deals sound more irresistible to the public. Spotify currently advertises itself as a 'music sharers paradise'. This is the newest feature of Spotify; to be able to share favourite artists and albums with friends and family either via Spotify or Facebook etc. Another new advert from Spotify focuses on encouraging people to purchase 'Premium' because of the dramatic fall in the music industry. It not only mentions all the new features or Spotify Premium but also talks about how free music on Spotify is all people need and there is therefore no reason for music piracy and illegal downloads. For the first time since 2004, album sales have actually increased. Thanks to Spotify, discounts and major releases like Lady Gaga and the brand new Coldplay album 'Mylo Xyloto', the music industry is on pace to see its first sales growth in over half a decade. The CEO of Spotify stated, "There's a clear rebound in music sales this year. We don't want to claim victory , but the music industry may be at a turning point."