When Virgin Media’s CEO said this summer he would bundle Spotify with his services at “significantly less” than Spotify’s own £9.99 Premium charge, we assumed it would mean a permanent monthly discount.
What transpires is that Virgin Media (NSDQ: VMED) will front-load any discount by providing only short-term Spotify free trials.
- New subscribers to Virgin’s 30Mb, 50Mb or 100Mb broadband, plus those who recommit for another 12 months, can get a six-month Spotify subscription worth £60.
- Cable customers who also take out a *Virgin Mobile* monthly subscription will get a three-month period worth £30.
This pricing format allows the pair to avoid discounting Spotify’s service indefinitely but reduces their partnership to a promotion deal.
“The offers are not exclusive of one another,” a Virgin Media spokesperson tells paidContent. “So someone on 10Mb without a mobile contract who upgrades to 30Mb with a mobile, could get nine months free.
“This is the launch proposition. Spotify is ever growing and changing so this is not a fixed price point. We’ll introduce great new offers and bundles next year.”
A new version of the Spotify client will include unspecified “exclusive content” in a “VM Music” tab.
“We host a number of live music events over the course of the year, examples this year include the acoustic nights at Our House back in April as well as V Festival,” Virgin’s spokesperson says. “You could expect that we will be looking to make the most of this incredible content plus backstage, unplugged and making-of content.
Spotify is prepping an “app” inside Virgin’s new TiVo (NSDQ: TIVO) box.
After the free trials expire, customers can opt in to continue paying for Spotify Premium at full price through their Virgin Media bills, lest their accounts be downgraded to Spotify Free.
“If someone already uses Spotify Premium, they can move their monthly account over to Virgin Media and benefit from the extra content, make the most of any home cinema system through TiVo, and save with the zero-rating of data on a Virgin Mobile,” Virgin’s spokesperson says. “Of course, they could also re-contract and therefore get a lengthy period totally free. Re-contracting relates to the customers’ broadband subscription.”