Once again, Spotify is showing that they are the best music platform out there, and is  making sure they stay up there. According to Consequence of Sound, Spotify is the last remaining platform that still maintains its ad-supported free tier, all other systems (Apple Music, TIDAL, and newly launched Amazon Music Unlimited) require users to pay a monthly subscription fee in order to gain access to their immense library of music that grows each day.

Spotify executives are defending their free tier and contend some people will never pay for their music, while at the same time blasting Apple for its exclusive releases, stating “We are not partaking in that game”. Troy Carter, Global Head of Creator Services and former manager of Lady Gaga, John Legend, Miguel, plus others, made a strong statement regarding the platform’s free users “We don’t ever get to a world where everybody is paying for music. They may never convert to a paying subscriber. They may not be able to afford it.” Going on to argue that some people struggle to fill their cars up with gasoline, and it just does not make sense to expect these people to pay to listen to the music that they love. Carter feels that a free subscription option will not sway people to start paying for it after a while, that conversion may never happen and that is ok.

Stefan Blom, Spotify’s Chief Strategy and Chief Content Officer, also made a point regarding the profit issues when it comes to “free” options, stating “We are monetizing it, and we are monetizing it well,” said Blom. “This ad-supported model works.”

While some artists, such as Bjork and Taylor Swift, do not feel like a free option allows the artist to profit from their work as much as they should, Spotify continues to dispute their payment figures in their arguments. Spotify is a top tier music platform that cares about each and every music lover, and they want to continue to make sure that fans get to listen to their favorite artists without having to pay premiums, as if paying to be fans.