We Hope We’re Disrupting Piracy: Spotify Aus MD

With piracy in the media world continuing to be a much debated topic, music streaming services such as Spotify, Pandora, Guvera and the newly released Apple Music are constantly hoping the offerings will put a dent in the illegal downloading of music.

A recent study from Spotify in Australia claimed the music piracy numbers had decreased by 20 per cent in the past year.

The study showed those who pirate music casually were being swayed to the legal options, however the hardcore pirates were still insistently pirating music.

It’s Kate Vale’s, managing director at Spotify Australia and speaker at disruption conference Daze of Disruption in Melbourne this year, hope that her and her team here are doing their part in disrupting the piracy market.

“Spotify as a business is still quite young,” she said. “We were founded about eight years ago now, and we’ve only been in Australia for three years. So as far as streaming goes, it’s still quite new. We hope to think we’re actually disrupting piracy because most of the people that use Spotify are those from a younger demographic, and a lot of these kids have never paid for music before.”

Speaking about the study conducted, Vale added other markets around the world where Spotify is have also seen drops in music piracy, particularly in Sweden where the streaming service was founded.

At the time of the study’s release in early September, Will Page, Spotify’s director of economics, said: “It’s exciting to see that we are making inroads into reducing the music piracy problem within such a short space of time in this market. It shows the scope for superior legal services (offered at an accessible price point) to help improve the climate for copyright online.

“Let’s be clear, Australia still faces a massive challenge in turning around its much talked about media piracy challenge, and it always has, and always will, take a combination of public policy and superior legal offerings.”

Aside from piracy, competition in the marketplace is an ever-changing area, and staying on top of disruption demands a constant stream of innovation, an area Vale will discuss at the Daze conference at the start of December this year.

“With the fact there’s a lot of competition in this space, you have to be innovative to keep ahead in our space,” she said.

Apple’s latest foray in the music scene, Apple Music, has been met with much hype and intrigue.

Forbes contributor recently questioned whether Apple Music will swell to end up being the streaming label, pushing aside the likes of Spotify and other sites.

However, not everyone was thrilled about the new arrival.

International pop star Taylor Swift recently had a go at newcomer Apple Music for not paying musicians during the service’s three-month free trial.

The singer’s klout was clearly heard at Apple with the service bending to her wish.

Tickets to Daze of Disruption are available now, right here.

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