8tracks announced that it is removing the weekly listening caps it had placed on people in its free access tier. The company initially instituted a limit on free listening in 2016 to counteract the high costs of music licensing. According to today’s blog post, the uptake of its 8track Plus subscription tier and the introduction of audio ads have allowed the company to roll back the weekly listening cap. It has also removed the one-track limit for logged-out listeners.
8tracks has been taking alternative routes in navigating the music industry. It has pursued options for fans and community members to have a more literal ownership over the music service through a Wefunder crowdfunding campaign. And it has been willing to try out more unique systems of perks and restrictions, all while sharing the motivations for its experiments with its users.
Their move to integrate with Spotify is really smart. If people are already using Spotify but also want a radio experience, why not have your app play the music from Spotify (and have them cover the royalties). This might be a way for future small broadcasters to survive, they add the curation and extra content/production, but the actual songs get played from Spotify or Apple Music.