Last November 8, Sony Corp. released a statement that the company is reconsidering their plans to further support free online music streaming services following Taylor Swift's decision to pull out her music from Spotify.
According to Sony Music Chief Financial Officer Kevin Kelleher, it is of paramount importance to look into the value that can be obtained by the company itself as well as its artists when it comes to partnering up- with digital streaming services.
"What it all really comes down to is how much value are the music company and the artist getting from the different consumption methods," Kelleher explained.
As Spotify is known for sharing a percentage of their profits from ad sales as well as from fees obtained through their premium version, Swift's resolution to pull out her music from Spotify has been a shock for many.
Owing to the fact that selling CDs has lost its popularity and online downloads may be next in line for the declining trends, the music industry has been looking forward to digital streaming as one of its main means of bringing music to listeners worldwide.
Kelleher did emphasize that, regardless of Swift saying goodbye to Spotify, Sony is still "very encouraged" by the continual expansion and increasing popularity of online streaming services. With subscription-based services with which monthly fees are paid, users are allowed to enjoy their music with the absence of ads.
According to Sony, it is looking forward to a significant increase in music revenues, particularly within $4.8 billion and $5.2 billion before March 2018 rolls in.
"The key question is, are the free, ad-supported services taking away from how quickly and to what extent we can grow those paid services?" Kelleher said.
Such issues are being currently tackled by Sony, particularly with their role in licensing content and distributing these to various platforms.
Meanwhile, the company's electronics and film divisions are looking forward to cranking up business, including the expansion of the Xperia phone lineup. Revenues amounting to at least $10 billion are also expected in 2018 for Sony Pictures Entertainment.
