[Finland] This is exactly the type of distribution that Spotify needs to achieve the kind of economies of scale that should reduce the cost to end-users with regards to its Premium offering. And of course, generate much needed revenue. The music streaming startup has signed up telco TeliaSonera as its exclusive partner in Finland to market and sell Spotify Premium. The two companies already have a similar arrangement in Sweden which started at the end of last year.
The new two year agreement will see Spotify and TeliaSonera work together to provide the telco’s Finnish customers with a range of Spotify Premium offers on computers, mobile phones and TVs.
The latter is particularly noteworthy as it coincides with today’s launch of TeliaSonera’s new IPTV service in Finland dubbed ‘Sonera Home TV’, which will give Sonera customers access to a wide range of free and pay TV channels as well as Spotify on the TV – although integration with the music streaming service won’t come until the summer when it will potentially be available in approximately 1.6m living rooms across Finland, says the company.
In the UK, Spotify already has a deal with mobile carrier 3 where the service is bundled with a 2 year contract on select phones getting a lot closer to the ‘feels like free‘ price-point many believe is needed to make the company’s Premium offering go mainstream. What’s as yet unclear is how close to that goal Spotify will get in Finland with today’s announcement.