Spotify to allow artists to withhold music from free service: WSJ

[December 09, 2015]    (Reuters) - Spotify told music executives it was planning to allow some artists to start releasing albums only to its paid subscribers, while withholding the music temporarily from Spotify's 80 million free users, the Wall Street Journal reported.

The music streaming service is initially trying the new approach as a test, the WSJ reported, citing a person familiar with the matter. (http://on.wsj.com/1N9W0Fm)

Spotify hasn't decided which artist will first get to withhold music from the free service, according to the Journal.

The moves comes after British rock band Coldplay decided not to release its new album on Spotify as Spotify required all of the band's music to be available to its free users, the WSJ reported last week.

Spotify couldn't immediately be reached for comment.

Last year, Taylor Swift pulled her entire catalog of music from Spotify and refused to offer "1989" on streaming services, saying the streaming business had shrunk the number of paid album sales drastically.

(Reporting by Kshitiz Goliya in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel)

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