A top Sony executive said Tuesday that the company is re-evaluating its support for free, advertiser-supported online music after U.S. pop star Taylor Swift pulled her music from Spotify, the popular digital streaming service.
“Actually, a lot of conversation has taken place over the last week in the light of that,” said Kevin Kelleher, chief financial officer of Sony Music. “What it all really comes down to is how much value are the music company and the artist getting from the different consumption methods.”
Ms. Swift’s decision this month to leave Spotify, which shares with artists a portion of the proceeds from ad sales and from fees for its paid, ad-free premium version, sent shock waves through the music business. With sales of CDs in a long-term slump and digital downloads beginning to decline, the industry has been looking to streaming as its brightest hope.
