What To Expect At Tomorrow’s Big Spotify Announcement
(UPDATED) We'll be live blogging Spotify's promised a "big announcement" tommorrow (11/30) at 12pm EST / 9am PST. The company says it is taking a "new direction". But aside from CEO Daniel Ek hosting along with some "special guests", no other details are being provided. That hasn't kept the pundits from making educated guesses. Here's what the experts think, my best guesses and a wild theory that could change digital music consumption for decades:
- Eliot Van Buskirk of Evolver.fm is convinced that Spotify will announce a commercial API that "lets app developers for iOS, Android, and other platforms build – and sell – music apps that draw on Spotify’s catalog of 15-million-plus songs.
- Peter Kafka at All ThingsD agrees with Eliot, but admits he can't find anyone to confirm it including the app developers who might logically be the "special guests" that Spotify promised tomorrow.
These are two smart guys, so they are probably right. But to make the " big announcement" of "a new direction" worthy of all of this hype, I think there will more tomorrow than just a commercial API. I'm also expecting one or more of the following:
- Big partner announcements of major mobile or ISP providers offering Spotify as a bundled and or discounted service. Spotify has done this with Virgin in the UK.
- Spotify's own US download store. No more sending customers off to iTunes, etc.
- Ticketing and or other "buy" options powered by new partners.
A Wild Theory
None of the above is all that sexy, but collectively it might qualify as "big". What's the wild theory that could make major headlines tomorrow?
In an interview by Eamonn Forde for Music Ally, Jason Herskowitz of the "anti-iTunes" music player Tomahawk theorizes that "Facebook acquires Spotify in an all-stock deal that makes everyone investing in Spotify rich with Facebook stock. And Facebook doesn’t have to pay cash to get the service; they just have to pay for licences."
That would classify as "BIG".
Heh… I don’t think that would happen tomorrow (although I am gambling on a closer Spotify/Echo Nest tie-up). My Facebook theory would take much longer to play out. Even I think it is borderline ridiculous, but the proposition is interesting enough to consider.
Jason I agree with your tenet. I think this is going to happen sooner than later!!
If Facebook acquires Spotify, what exactly would Facebook tell all the other music services that just got integrated into Facebook? There would be a lot of bad blood. I will admit that Facebook couldn’t give a shit less about what anyone thinks. So maybe it could happen. But it doesn’t feel right. Remember that whole thing that went down between Parker and Zuckerberg about how they had a “difference in opinion” about being required to sign in with Facebook? Why would that have happened if Facebook was buying Spotify?
I think the API theory is good. But they still don’t have a digital store in the US. But I guess neither of those could be considered a “big” announcement.
Maybe Spotify will announce that they will actually pay musicians a decent fee for using their music…nah, why would they do that…