Streaming music service Spotify knows how to dance with the music as it sealed a deal with wireless carrier Sprint to promote and market its 20 million songs to the latter's U.S. subscribers who get free access to the database for up to six months.
The free six-month access is offered to all existing and new postpaid customers of Sprint in the U.S, who are on a Framily plan and own an iPhone, Android smartphone, Windows 8 or 8.1 smartphone and the HTC One Harman Kardon edition. For non-Framily plan subscribers, they can still get free access of Spotify for three months.
"In the U.S., Spotify is really strong on the coasts, but we've got to hit mainstream America," Spotify CEO Daniel Ek says in an interview with The New York Times. "With Sprint we feel we really have the opportunity to do that."
Beyond the six-month period, Framily customers who prefer to continue with the service will be given further discounts to the service. For instance, the monthly subscription is only $7.99 for one to five users, and $4.99 for six to 10 users for 18 months, subject to the number of premium users in the Framily. Two years after, Sprint customers will pay Spotify's standard price, which at present is at $9.99 a month.
"Spotify and Sprint share a passion for music and technology that makes this partnership a natural fit for both companies -- and the best music deal ever for Sprint customers," Ek says.
This deal of Spotify is offered in Sprint's national entertainment platform called Sprint Sound Sessions, said to be a premium package of music and other privileges for customers of Sprint.
"Sprint designed Sprint Sound Sessions for customers interested in a more complete and active music experience," Jeff Hallock, chief marketing officer at Sprint, says in a statement.
The partnership between Sprint and Spotify allows customers to play old and discover new music, create playlist, share tracks with family and friends, play songs offline and even listen to music without the disturbing barrage of ads.
It is said to be a leading player in online streaming music service and the current hope of the music industry whose sales and paid downloads continue to go down. Spotify says this new partnership with the wireless carrier can spark or lure new customers who would be willing to pay for music.
No data as to how many users Spotify has at present, but over a year ago, it disclosed having over 24 million users. It started almost six years ago in Sweden. Now, it is available in over 50 countries. Latest report estimated around 2.5 million Spotify subscribers in the U.S., while executives in the industry also roughly estimated to fewer than 10 million subscribers all over the world. However, Ek declined to comment on the number of users the music service has.
