Spotify to match ads to your music

 

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By Barry Collins

Posted on 20 Apr 2009 at 12:58

Streaming music service Spotify says it will soon offer advertisers the chance to target users based on the music they're listening to.

Spotify offers a vast repertoire of free, on-demand music, with the occasional advert the only inconvenience for listeners who don't pay for a Spotify subscription.

Now the company is looking to maximise that advertising revenue by pitching adverts that are tailored to the kind of music the person is listening to.

"Much much later on this year, we'll be looking at targeting by mood," Spotify's UK sales director, Jon Mitchell, claims in a video interview with Iris Digital. "If you're a brand that needs to reach people in a relaxed mindset - perhaps they're listening to Ibiza chill-out or Mozart - but we know that 15-24 is in that mindset and therefore you can serve the right brand to them."

Mitchell also insists that the company can continue to pump out free music in the long term. "We need to have all elements of the business working," he says. "We believe the free version is there for everyone. I know that some people have said free is going to disappear, that's not our view at all."

"We really do see it as a 'freemium' - that may be a bit cheesy - but it's free and premium. The two work very, very closely in hand and there's all sorts of different routes to create revenue to return back to the artists at the record labels."

Earlier this month, Spotify announced plans to open its API, paving the way for the service to appear on devices ranging from mobile phones to television sets.