????Spotify登陸美國(guó)一周后,，其首席執(zhí)行官兼共同創(chuàng)始人丹尼爾??？顺鱿嗽诳屏_拉多州的阿斯彭舉辦的《財(cái)富》科技頭腦風(fēng)暴（Fortune Brainstorm Tech），暢談公司的快速發(fā)展,。
????Spotify是一項(xiàng)簡(jiǎn)單,、合法的“自助式”音樂(lè)服務(wù)，它在歐洲的部分地區(qū)取得了極大的轟動(dòng),。Spotify采用了一種“免費(fèi)+增值”的商業(yè)模式,，用戶可以免費(fèi)欣賞1，500多萬(wàn)首歌曲,。相比之下,，像Rhapsody和Rdio這種音樂(lè)服務(wù)則需要用戶提前按月支付訂閱費(fèi)用。目前Spotify在美國(guó)提供了三個(gè)等級(jí)的服務(wù)：首先是免費(fèi)版（有廣告）,，它和歐洲免費(fèi)版的不同之處在于沒(méi)有收聽(tīng)上限,，用戶想聽(tīng)多少就聽(tīng)多少,；其次是無(wú)廣告的桌面版，每月收費(fèi)4.99美元,；最后是高級(jí)版,，每月收費(fèi)9.99美元，用戶還可以在移動(dòng)設(shè)備上進(jìn)行流媒體下載和儲(chǔ)存歌曲,。
????在上周四的采訪中,，埃克著重介紹了Spotify的商業(yè)模式,，稱其已經(jīng)顛覆了音樂(lè)產(chǎn)業(yè),。他指出，盡管人們普遍認(rèn)為音樂(lè)產(chǎn)業(yè)越來(lái)越不景氣,，但事實(shí)上現(xiàn)在人們聽(tīng)音樂(lè)聽(tīng)得比以往任何時(shí)候都要多,。
????埃克說(shuō)道：“在音樂(lè)業(yè)的歷史上,，最大的問(wèn)題就是用戶需要如何購(gòu)買音樂(lè)或唱片,。而Spotify的商業(yè)理念是，擁有所有權(quán)固然很好,，但訪問(wèn)權(quán)才是音樂(lè)業(yè)的將來(lái),。”Spotify把該公司所有的音樂(lè)資源都向用戶免費(fèi)開(kāi)放,。埃克相信,，用戶會(huì)漸漸喜歡這項(xiàng)服務(wù),，然后在Spotify上搜索更多的音樂(lè)、專輯和歌手,，最終他們會(huì)沉迷其中,，主動(dòng)掏錢購(gòu)買“高級(jí)版”。
????Spotify現(xiàn)在已經(jīng)在8個(gè)國(guó)家生根發(fā)芽,。?？艘渤姓J(rèn)，公司最近把大多數(shù)精力都放在了開(kāi)拓美國(guó)市場(chǎng)上,。（事實(shí)上,，埃克首次承諾Spotify將登陸美國(guó)還是兩年前的事,。）這在很大程度上是由于Spotify與唱片公司的談判曠日持久,。因?yàn)閾?jù)報(bào)道稱，唱片公司很懷疑Spotify商業(yè)模式的生錢能力,，擔(dān)心它無(wú)法給唱片公司和歌手們帶來(lái)利潤(rùn),。
????顯然,，這些唱片公司最終做出讓步還是由于Spotify在海外表現(xiàn)出的增長(zhǎng)前景讓他們動(dòng)了心。到目前為止,，Spotify已經(jīng)擁有1,，000萬(wàn)名用戶，其中付費(fèi)用戶已達(dá)160萬(wàn)人,。Spotify希望在赴美運(yùn)營(yíng)的的第一年里就能積聚超過(guò)5,，000萬(wàn)名用戶。（不過(guò)就如何實(shí)現(xiàn)這一雄心勃勃的目標(biāo),，?？司芙^透露細(xì)節(jié)。）
????雖然他不愿詳細(xì)透露公司的財(cái)務(wù)信息（事實(shí)上,，他甚至不愿透露他的公司目前是否贏利）,，但埃克提到了蘋果（Apple）公司的收益分成模式,，同時(shí)坦言,，大部分收益將流向唱片公司和歌手們的腰包。目前,，蘋果的應(yīng)用銷售收入有70%歸研發(fā)者,，蘋果公司自己則分得30%。Spotify的贏利問(wèn)題特別惹人關(guān)注,，這是因?yàn)榱硪患乙魳?lè)服務(wù)商——潘朵拉（Pandora）始終深陷財(cái)務(wù)泥淖不能自拔：潘朵拉已經(jīng)成立11年了,，盡管這家數(shù)字音樂(lè)廣播公司的營(yíng)收入不斷增長(zhǎng)，同時(shí)廣告收入也在增加,，但潘朵拉始終在賠錢,，從來(lái)沒(méi)有扭虧為盈過(guò)。自從2000年創(chuàng)立以來(lái),，潘朵拉已經(jīng)巨虧9,，210萬(wàn)美元。
????在競(jìng)爭(zhēng)問(wèn)題上,，尤其是在談到來(lái)自蘋果和谷歌（Google）這種大公司的競(jìng)爭(zhēng)時(shí),，埃克表示,，全心全意做一件事情的公司在這件事情上的表現(xiàn)往往比那些全面出擊的公司要出色,。至于潘朵拉，?？吮硎?，潘朵拉和Spotify的服務(wù)是互補(bǔ)的。
????“在以前的世界里,，既有收音機(jī),，也有唱片店,。但是在這個(gè)新的、完全不同的世界里,，既有潘多拉這樣顯然走廣播路子的服務(wù),，也有Spotify這樣的服務(wù)。我們關(guān)注的只是如何管理用戶的音樂(lè),，我們希望成為用戶的音樂(lè)收藏庫(kù),。”
????為了推進(jìn)這一目標(biāo)的實(shí)現(xiàn),，Spotify正在著力研發(fā)新的工具,，以便使音樂(lè)庫(kù)的運(yùn)行速度更快，并使這項(xiàng)服務(wù)更加社交化,，而不是像現(xiàn)在這樣,，只有播放列表的分享功能。
?????？诉€表示：“社交化和連接設(shè)備是音樂(lè)業(yè)的兩個(gè)大趨勢(shì),。人們之所以愿意付費(fèi)，主要原因就是它的便攜性……而隨著這項(xiàng)服務(wù)的社交化,，當(dāng)人們進(jìn)行互動(dòng)的時(shí)候,，他們分享的音樂(lè)越多，他們建立起的音樂(lè)庫(kù)就越大,，Spotify的價(jià)值也就越大,。將來(lái)能夠成功的音樂(lè)服務(wù)，必然是最簡(jiǎn)單,、最快捷,、最社交化的音樂(lè)服務(wù)?！?/p>
????譯者：樸成奎 |
|
|
????One week after Spotify launched in the U.S., CEO and co-founder Daniel Ek discussed his company's rapid growth at Brainstorm Tech in Aspen, Colo.
????The simple, legal "all-you-can-eat" music service has made waves in parts of Europe with a freemium model that lets users listen to over 15 million tracks for free, compared with services like Rhapsody and Rdio that require upfront monthly paid subscriptions. Spotify in the U.S. currently offer three distinct tiers: a free ad-supported service that unlike the European version does not enforce a monthly listening cap, a $4.99 ad-free version for desktop listening, and a $9.99 "Premium" plan that that also lets users stream and store songs to mobile devices.
????In his interview today, Ek emphasized how Spotify's model is disrupting the industry, pointing out that despite the widely-held belief that the music industry is in decline, people are listening to music now more than ever.
????"In the history of music, it's been about how you need to buy this record or song," he said. "What Spotify is saying is ownership is great, but access is the future." In opening up the company's entire music catalog to users without them having to pay a cent, he believes they'll listen to and discover more songs, albums, and artists and eventually get so hooked they'll want to go "Premium."
????Spotify is now in eight markets, with Ek admitting that the U.S. launch took up the vast majority of the company's recent efforts. (In fact, Ek first promised a U.S. launch nearly two-and-a-half years ago.) That's due in no small part to drawn-out negotiations with record labels, which were reportedly concerned about the service's freemium model and whether that would translate into revenues for them and artists.
????Apparently, it was promising growth abroad that swayed them. To date, Spotify reaches more than 10 million users, 1.6 million of which pay. The company hopes to amass 50 million more users during its first year of U.S. operations. (Ek declined to specify just how he plans to achieve that ambitious goal.)
????And though he would not break down the numbers -- indeed, he would not even specify whether the company is currently profitable -- he did envision the majority of revenues going back to labels and artists, referencing Apple's (AAPL) revenue-sharing model: 70% back to say, app developers, with Apple taking 30% for itself. The issue was of particular interest given Pandora's own financial struggles: Despite ads and growing revenues, the 11-year-old digital radio company has never turned a profit and actually incurred $92.1 million in losses since it was founded in 2000.
????On the subject of competition, particularly from big companies like Apple and Google (GOOG), he insinuated that companies that do one thing well often do better than companies that try to do multiple things. As for Pandora (P), he says both services are complementary.
????ld, you had radio and record stores," he said. "In the new world, a different world, you have services like Pandora which is clearly radio. With Spotify, all we really care about is we want to manage your music. We want to hold your music collection.
????To further that, the company is focusing on tools to build music libraries faster and make the service more social beyond the playlist-sharing features in the current apps.
????"There are two megatrends: social and connected devices," said Ek. "The main reason people want to pay is portability. ... With social, when people interact, the more music they share, the bigger library they build, and the bigger value Spotify becomes. The music service that is the simplest, fastest, and most social -- that's the one that will win. |
