Exclusive: Q&A with Jon Mitchell from Spotify UK

Jon Mitchell, the UK head and sales director of Spotify, came to iris last week and gave us an overview of the service, the opportunities for advertisers and a glimpse at what might be in the pipeline. He played the future bit pretty close to the vest, with several "check Google for that" answers. But I don't blame him. They're on a roll, and he's a good sport.

After the group session, I asked him a few questions about Spotify, and he was kind enough to let me record it and share this with you:


I'm "long" Spotify and think they have a legitimate chance to transform the way we interact and think about music. Here's my take:

For individuals, Spotify is a killer service, combining a deep catalogue of music with a social media twist. Finding, playing and sharing songs and playlists is free (with ads) or ad-free (with a subscription). It has an instant appeal and is bound to be popular.

For advertisers and media companies, Spotify is like radio on data-driven steroids. They’re able to aggregate individuals based on their listening habits (since all the tracks are well-tagged) and target listeners on a very granular level. Mood-based targeting and other clever ways to reach people with the right message at the right time are sure to be on the horizon.

Spotify knows that the best way to compete with the pirates is to make using their service easier than illegal downloads. Whilst telcos and the music labels may see the potential for partnerships, others involved in the music business should be wary, as Spotify would seem to be a substitute to music services such as Nokia’s Comes With Music or Sony Ericsson's Play Now Plus, rather than a catalyst to their use.

What do think?