Finalfinaldraftspotify

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Table of Contents
Executive Summary ... 2
Research Objectives
Concise Statements of Method
Summary of key Findings
Introduction ..... 3
Research Method and Procedures .... 4
Date Analysis and Findings ..... 5
Conclusions and Recommendations 18
Limitations ....... 19
Appendix ...... 20
Executive Summary
Research Objectives
Spotify has continually become one of the best music streaming services provided to
users. However, with Apple Music, Tidal, and other streaming applications becoming more
popular, it challenges our service to compete with them. In order to be the number one streaming
application people look to, there are several different factors we need to look at in order to
expand our brand.
For starters, it all begins with the consumer. We need to look into who they are. After we
know who they are, we can look into our service and see what we can improve on. Whether it be
giving them easier and better access to our music or finding what we dont have, this research
will allow us to gain a perspective on what we can change or improve on for our consumer.
Another factor is that we want to explore are the artists. Not being able to go to the artists
directly, we want to see how artists rights, such as piracy, will affect the consumer. We also want
to find out if not having certain artists or songs on our application will be a problem.
Another goal of ours is to gain perspective on our brand. We want to know how others
perceive our product and see what positive aspects about our brand contains. Asking focus group
questions and handing out surveys for people to answer further helps our research in order to
improve or continue doing to our product.
Overall, from this research, we hope to gain a perspective on where our strengths lie and
continue pursuing that in order to keep our consumers.
Concise statements of Methods

For our research objectives, we created random focus groups and gave out surveys online
and in person. We each went out in small groups and interviewed different people with our focus
group questions including surveys. The responses were unanimous and the group collectively
agreed that Spotify was the best music application for them.
Our survey questions were handed out as well as taken online. Each
survey had a disclaimer stating that they were going to remain anonymous
throughout the entire process, if they wanted to, and some signed the form
knowing that we needed names to make sure they did not retake the form.
Judging by the responses of both online and in person, the answers varied on
most of our questions.
Summary of Key Findings

Resulting from this experiment, we confirmed our hypothesis and discovered that Spotify
is, in fact, most popular among millennials. With todays economy, our focus group revealed that
ideally, customers would prefer not to pay for membership. However, the affordable price and
no-commercial incentive is what motivates members to pay.
Introduction
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The research conducted was intended to determine who relies on our
services, if there are areas of improvement needed in our services to provide
a more user-friendly and accessible music streaming experience, and also
where we stand amongst our other music streaming competitors. The
objective of the research is to determine what factors are necessary to
creating a number one music streaming service for Spotifys consumers this
begins with looking into the people themselves. This will include researching
what their music streaming habits are like, their opinions on social issues
regarding music, as well as of course their relationship to the service.
To briefly explain what the service is, Spotify is a music streaming tool
that provides its users instant access to millions of songs. It originally
developed in Sweden by Martin Lorentzon and Daniel Ek in 2006. It officially
launched its services in 2008. Their 2008 launch began the negotiation process with
record labels globally. Sean Parker, founder of Napster, invested $15 million on Spotify and
provided invaluable assistance by aiding in establishing deals with record labels and with
Facebook. Spotify lives up to their promise for having the right music for every moment with
multiple, user friendly features that can be tailored to each listener. Listeners have the option to
use the free alternative of Spotify which will include advertisements or Spotify Premium which
allows users ad-free, unlimited streaming for a monthly payment of $6.99 or $4.99 if the
consumer is a student. Currently, there are approximately 15 million paying customers and 60
million active users.
Also, an ongoing issue that has plagued the music industry for decades
has been royalties and artistic rights. Over the past few years, musicians
have discontinued their partnership or use of some music streaming services
including Spotify because of the claim that these artists are not being paid
enough for their music or that they believe consumers should pay for their
music and royalties from those plays should be given to the artists. To speak
for Spotify specifically, artists are not given the opportunity to make the
music exclusive to those who pay the subscription instead of having it be
available to both free and paying customers. Some artists have left the
service due to that reason and there is a fear that the more artists that
leave, the more likely consumers will as well and since income relies heavily
on subscription and advertising, this can prove to be damaging to the
company. Therefore, this study will also act as a tool to gain perspective from
the consumers on how they feel about this issue and if it effects their use or
view of Spotifys service. With the research methods of focus groups and
online and in person questionnaires, we expected the factors of age,
ethnicity, income, music usage on a day to day basis, and the services
function and accessibility to provide perspective on consumer satisfaction,
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areas of improvement, and our standing amongst competitors in order to see
what Spotify could adjust to make it the best streaming service.
Research Methods and Procedures

Prior to collecting primary data via surveys and focus groups, we collected secondary
data by researching other streaming sites and user preferences and opinions. The purpose of this
was to created more specific, open-ended, focus group questions. We found that Spotify is
already one, if not, the top streaming site next to Apple Music. Apple Musics membership price
is much higher than Spotifys yet, it can still compete with Spotify because of the convenience it
offers. It can sync to multiple applications and devices seamlessly. Apple emphasizes music
quality publicly which make them a little more reputable than Spotify.
Because of the secondary data we collected before the focus group phase,
we selected the specific age group as such since students within those ages
are the ones who listen to more music. We found that millennials have a
taste for not only the new, pop music, but also the oldies; this makes them
the largest age group to listen to music.
On Monday, March 28, 2016, we conducted our focus group
discussion at Cal State University of Fullertons Pollak Library. Our
sample of ten diverse individuals consisted of: two Caucasians, three Asian
Americans, three Hispanics, and two African Americans. 60% were
females, and 40% males. All of our participants were millennials within
the age groups nineteen years old to thirty-three years old. Our participants were chosen with
diversity in mind so that we could get an almost accurate idea of what the general public thinks
about Spotify by representing them as they would be out in the general public. We chose
participants who were not enrolled the Communications or Business Colleges to avert all
possible biases.
Our focus group feedback allowed us to design an even more questionnaire than the ones
we asked them. This was also to remove all potential biased questions on our part. In order to
reach a diverse group of participants, we uploaded our questionnaire on Google Docs which we
closed off on Sunday, April 10, 2016 with 100 completed forms. We also collected surveys in
person by having our acquaintances and classmates fill out the questionnaire. Before responding,
we first screened participants to make sure they were not part of the Communications College
and that they have used Spotify in the past.
We had two, yes or no questions to gage the participants age and if they have in fact
used Spotify before. We then had fifteen questions using a likert-scale from one to five; one
being highly disagree, two, disagree, three, undecided or neutral, four, agree, and five being
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strongly agree. Our questions ranged from topics of music piracy, music royalties, music fees,
music exclusives, and accessibility. We wanted to know how consumers felt about these.
Data Analysis and Findings

From conducting the questionnaire and our focus group, we were able to analyze their
result and find out more about the general perception on Spotify and our consumers.
The questionnaire results are as follow:
These statements were asked using a scale system from strongly disagree to strongly agree
1. Spotify is one of the best tools to discover new musicians.
Outcome 1: Of the 100 participants, 4% strongly disagree, 8% disagree, 35% were neutral, 30%
agree and 23% strongly agree.
2. Spotify advantage is its expansive music history.
3. I listen to music as much as I can.
Outcome 3: Of the 100 participants,, 1% strongly disagree, 4% disagree, 14% were neutral, 30%
4. Music piracy doesnt bother me.
Outcome 4: Of the 100 participants, 10% strongly disagree, 14% disagree, 30% were neutral,
26% agree, and 20% strongly agree.
5. Music royalties and artist payment concerns me.
21% agree, and 11% strongly agree.
6. If it means no commercials, I dont mind paying a fee.
24% agree, 30% strongly agree.
7. Spotify is up-to-date with the latest music.
agree, 24% strongly agree.
8. Spotify lacks diversity in music genres.
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9. Having music easily accessible is important to me.
agree, 74% strongly agree.
10. Spotify is my first choice when it comes to streaming service applications.
11. I use Spotify to find new music.
12. I like that Spotify is connected to other social media services.
26% agree, 10% agree.
13. With certain artists not putting their music on Spotify, it makes me consider other
music applications, like Apple Music or Tidal.
14. I listen to playlists already curated by Spotify.
Outcome 15. The Spotify mobile application is convenient to use.
16. The Spotify desktop application is convenient to use.
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For our focus group, we recorded the discussion and wrote down their responses. Unlike
the questionnaire, the focus group questions responses were more in depth and allowed us to
know more of what our consumers are thinking. The results are as follow:
Q1: Why do you / would you choose to use Spotify over other streaming websites / apps?
A. Majority group consensus: its convenient and easy to use
B. Because Spotify was one of the 1st streaming apps. So, I was
already subscribed to it, so Im used to all their features and stuff and its more
convenient for me. They also have good prices.
C. I liked the fact that I had access to a lot of music, a lot of artists
and that was probably the main reason why I started using it at first. Theres so
much music and so many artists were accessible compared to other music apps.
D. Because it has so many unlimited options for artists and playlists.
E. I would choose Spotify over other streaming websites because it is
a really good service, it has all the songs and albums that I like, and there are no
ads or commercials.
F. Spotify makes it easy to choose the exact song you want to hear
and all the albums are there for you to browse through.
Q2: What are some disadvantages compared to other music streaming sites?
A. We have to use data/wifi in order to listen to all the playlists the
Spotify offers. Even if we have Premium, we have to download it first, and if it
doesnt download, we dont have the music.
B. Just exclusives. As in, albums will be released in other streaming
sites before Spotify, like Tidal and Apple music but thats pretty much it. For
example, Kanyes The Life of Pablo was released on Tidal right away and it took
a good two weeks to be released to Spotify.
C. I didnt like that couldnt play it in the order that I wanted to. It
would shuffle it. Every time I wanted to play in a specific order of tracks that I
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wanted, I had to pay for that feature, which is why I stopped using Spotify.
Another thing is, Im cheap. I dont want to have to pay a monthly fee to use the
app.
D. From my experience it has more mainstream artists. Sometimes I
cant find certain remixes or other "lesser known" groups. When this happens I
turn to other music websites like Soundcloud.
E. Some artists choose not to put their songs on Spotify like Taylor
Swift. So even though it has a large variety, it is does not have a complete
selection
F. It doesnt have all music.
G. Too mainstream. I like looking for artists that arent very popular
and Spotify seems to just have the artists on the radio.
H. It has advertisements. If its on your phone, you cant choose the
song you want unless you pay for it.
Q3: When do you find yourself using Spotify the most?
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
When I am driving.
When Im at the gym or when Im driving.
When I'm on my long commute to work or when Im at the gym.
When Im at work mostly.
I like to use it when Im studying or cleaning or
getting ready.
F. When I am doing homework- I have several
playlist that are quiet that help me focus. When I have friends
over I also use spotify to play music and I keep it accessible to
others so anyone can type in an artist they want to listen to.
G. In my car or at the gym.
H. At home
Q4: Do you use other streaming sites on top of Spotify?
A. No.
B. . Sometimes Ill switch to Soundcloud.
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C. Not really, does youtube count?
D. Pandora, Sound Cloud, Groove Shark.
E. I just got rid of Spotify, but I like it the best. I do use Pandora when
I want to hear a random mix of songs.
F. No, not really. I mean, maybe Soundcloud.
G. Yeah, like Pandora or Apple Music.
H. Yeah, I use another music app on my iPhone or just use iTunes.
Q5: Is Spotify easier to use than other streaming sites?
A. You type in the artist name and most of their music shows up.
B. It depends on what I'm looking for music wise but lately I have
been turning to Spotify more and more.
C. Yes it is really easy!
D. For me, only because its familiar to me and yeah well, its easier
than Soundcloud. Spotify just caters to your interests because it knows what you
like to listen to so it gives you artists you like right in front of your face rather
than having to search for it
E. Yeah it was easy.
F. Yeah because you just search and its there.
G. Not sure since I do not use it often.
H. Yeah because you just search and its there.
Q6: How did you first hear about Spotify?
A. I heard about it from my friend who told me to download it on my computer.
B. I searched free music apps and saw Spotify.
C. I heard about it from a friend who loves music and told me to give it a try
D. My coworkers used to use it and told me it was worth the money.
E. Probably through social media, like Twitter.
F. Through Facebook. I think somebody was listening to something and it showed up on
my newsfeed. So it peaked my curiosity what they were using.
G. A family member.
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H.. Facebook ad
Q7: Do you find the interface user friendly?
A.
B.
C.
D.
Yeah its pretty self explanatory.

If I had to rate it, Id give it a 8 out of 10.
Yes.
Yes it is really easy to navigate and looks
appealing.
E. Yeah it goes back to my comparison with
Soundcloud. Its super user friendly to me at least. There
hasnt been an instance when I dont know what to do for
what Im looking for. I always know what to do if I need to
find something
F. Yeah, its easy to use.
G. Not really since I dont use it a lot
H. Yeah, super easy to use.
Q8: If you could, what would you change to make it more user friendly?
A.
B.
C.
D.
Have the music downloaded to our phones.

Fewer commercials.
It is pretty easy to use. I wouldn't change anything.
Nothing really! I mean, I guess bigger font for people who cant
E.
F.
G.
H.
Same, I wouldnt change anything except maybe make it free!

I agree!
Less steps to search for music.
Make it easier to look for certain playlists that would suit me.
see.
Q9: Is the premium membership price worth it?

A. I think so because you can skip, repeat any song, and listen to the
app without any commercials.
B. I don't know. I hate the thought of having to pay for Premium, but
I might cave because I really like the idea of saving playlists and listening to them
offline and saving data.
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C. When I had it I paid the student price of 4.99. The membership is
worth it depending if you listen to music a lot.
D. Definitely. Because it has a large selection of music and they
create great playlists for you. Some even have videos / music videos and lyrics.
You can use it on your desktop, it doesnt have to be on your phone.
E. Yeah because I hate going over on my data and saving the playlists
onto my phone would be better.
F. No. I dont think its worth it but then again, I dont like wasting
money on things that arent necessary.
G. No since I dont mind the commercials.
H. I think its worth it. I pay the student price and five bucks its super
cheap for all that music.
Q10: Besides no commercials, what would make you want to pay for a membership?
A. I would pay $5 a month to have the songs downloaded to my
phone.
B. Same, honestly. I want these songs on my phone so I can make
ringtones.
C. I would make certain features more accessible. For instance,
deleting songs from playlists.
D. The option to save playlists and listen to them offline.
E. The big selection of songs and albums.
F. Just the variety of music they have, the
selection, the ease of use.
G. I dont know. Maybe add more artists that
arent accessible.
H. Nothing else. Except maybe I like the idea
about ringtones someone else mentioned.
Q11: Does the content of the commercials bother you? Would you want
to choose the kind of commercials that played?
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A. The commercial content doesnt bother me, but its funny when
they play Spanish commercials when I have been listening to Christmas Music for
hours.
B. Yeah I have had that before. Id randomly be sitting in my car and
a random Spanish Commercial will play. I would choose to have commercials for
food being played.
C. I have noticed that some of the commercials are based on my
search history. Its kind of creeps me out, but it does get my attention because it's
all the stuff I'm interested in.
D. On Pandora the ads bother me because I will just be getting into
the songs and then a commercial ruins the mood. On Spotify, I don't have
commercials which is nice.
E. I dont know because I have Spotify premium. But if I didnt have
it, I guess I would want to choose the content of the commercials.
F. No the commercials are whatever but maybe like Hulu, choosing
what commercials I want to hear would be cool and more interesting to me.
G. Whatever they play is fine. Its quick and I dont really pay
attention to them anyways.
H. No, but I would like to watch something funny.
Q12: How has Spotifys initiative for convenient music streaming been received?
A. Thats a confusing question. But I receive Spotify as trying to be
really convenient to the public. It is trying to adhere to every range of persons
needs.
B. [silently agreed with person above]
C. I think it has been positively received. Many people prefer using
Spotify over other websites.
D. I think it has been positive and people really like it.
E. I dont know what you mean by that.
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F. Same, but if you mean that their app is easy to use, then I say its
been perceived as a success.
G. For me, its okay.
H. Its good. They have all the music in my opinion.
Q13: What are the issues in accessing Spotifys services?
A. Like we said before, It doesnt download music properly to the app
so sometimes we dont have the songs we wanted. Guy #2: we cant delete songs
off the playlist until we have access to a computer. Which I kinda find annoying.
B. It eats up your data when you are not on Wi-Fi.
C. I agree!
D. No issues so far using the app.
E. Sometimes the streaming network does not have an amazing
connection but other than that I like it.
F. None really because if you want to listen to the
music offline, you have the ability to download albums for
offline use, so, I dont see any issues unless you dont. have
downloaded music [from Spotify] or you dont have internet.
That would be the only problem.
G. You need really good connection.
H. Not all the artists I want are on there and you
need Wi-Fi/internet to use it.
Q14: What are your views on music piracy?
A. Ive been downloading music illegally since I was 10 so I dont
really have an issue with pirating music.
B. I hate when Im trying to find a song on Youtube, and someone
has tinkered with the song to adhere to the copyright rules. So it always sounds
funny. But normally I dont care for it.
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C. It is definitely a concern, but I see why people do it. I believe
people would buy music if they didnt keep raising up the prices for it. Is a song
really worth $1.29? Not really.
D. I think it's wrong. I know people are getting ripped off out of
rightful earnings but in the end, Im a broke college student. I cant always afford
to pay for these songs especially because it seems harmless and minuscule.
Whats a couple dollars when the people making the music are wealthy enough? It
also comes off as a harmless crime because there are so many people who get
away with it on a daily basis. If there was more of a repercussion I dont think I
would do it. I understand stealing is stealing no matter how small, but until there
is some actual real consequences, I dont see me or any other young adults
stopping.
E. I think that music should be something that is free for everyone to
enjoy. Music purchasing has become more increasingly expensive which might
prohibit certain people from enjoying music.
Im not for it but Im not against it. I dont know, its whatever to me. If you really want people
to listen to your music then youll just put your music out there. Theres always ways for artists
to make money.
F. I dont really care.
G. I think people shouldnt steal music because its stolen profits
from the artists.
Q15: What do you think the company could work better on?
A. The company can work on getting more new underground artists to
place their music on there. Sponsor new artists who are trying to make it in the
music industry and promote them better. Not have so many commercials because
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that always gets annoying, and the limited skips should stop. But maybe I should
get the Premium Spotify.
B. I dont really see anything that they need to improve on. Im pretty
content with their app; otherwise I would have stopped using it.
C. Make the student discount a longer period.
D. Completing music collections. One time I went on the app to listen
to some songs on a singer's first album and it was not there, so maybe they could
work on adding more content.
E. Maybe have an option, like Netflix, that will allow more than one
user to an account.
F. I think its the best streaming app already so maybe just getting
exclusives just because certain artists are tied to certain brands, like Drake and
Apple Music, they always get his music first. Or Rihanna, Kanye and Jay Z on
Tidal.
G. Music sharing, original music by aspiring artists, cool remixes
H. Have music videos with it or something more visual to go with the
music would be cool.
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Conclusion and Recommendations

In order to reduce the amount of people illegally downloading
music, we recommend that Spotify continue to add new music and new
artists. Due to the results of our research, we recommend Spotify to
maintain, if not lower, their membership price. Spotify could also
maintain the membership price and use the money to create contracts for
music exclusives. 81% agree and strongly agree that they listen to music
as much as they can however in regards to music royalty and rights issues,
almost half of our survey participants said that they are not concerned
with music piracy and music royalties. We believe that continuing its efforts to expand the
brands music database, technology and convenience of use. Our secondary research revealed
that Spotify is already the leading music streaming platform next to Apple Music. During our
secondary research prior to conducting our primary research, we found that Apple Music has a
higher membership fee yet, it is still just as popular as Spotify. This is because Apple Music can
sync to an expansive amount of applications and entertainment devices. The bottom line is,
consumers pay for convenience.
We conclude that most people, who range from ages 18 to 35, use Spotify. The people
who fall under this category view Spotify as an easily accessible method to listen to music they
love as well as a useful tool to discover new artists. The T test was implemented to obtain this
data, the two groups compared are people ages 18-35, compared to people older. The null
hypothesis was correct in stating the target audience that uses the company the most frequently.
Secondary research shows the importance of the millennial buyer.
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Limitations
The research is not a statistically significant study in respect to providing a definitive
answer to where Spotify falls under in terms of competition with other streaming services and
who uses the service because the numbers tested were not large enough to be completely
conclusive. Our study contains flaws and biases due to the general demographic that completed
our surveys and questions. Time constraints of college students making requirements for
Communications 410 to graduate as well as the restraints for the time table to complete the
research provided obstructions. Limited funding was also another obstacle that restricted the
research from being more expansive and less biased.
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Appendixes
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Letter to Participants
Prior to taking the survey:
Have you used Spotify? If so, perfect! Please help me and my research team by filling out an
anonymous survey we've generated to gain some insight on how adequately Spotify serves the
public. The survey takes no more than five minutes. We ask that you give us honest responses so
that we can have an accurate report for our project. Thank you for your time.
On actual survey:
As a group, we want to know what you think about Spotify. We would like to get some feedback
for our survey and see how functional Spotify really is to the public. This is strictly for our
Communications 410 class project and your responses will remain anonymous. However, please
sign your name at the top of the survey as a form of consent. Responses are greatly appreciated!
Thank you!
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Concise statements of Methods

Summary of Key Findings

Research Methods and Procedures

Data Analysis and Findings

Yeah its pretty self explanatory.

Have the music downloaded to our phones.

Same, I wouldnt change anything except maybe make it free!

Q9: Is the premium membership price worth it?

Conclusion and Recommendations

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