SpotifyTM Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

SpotifyTM - Essay Example Table of Contents Table of Contents 3 Introduction 4 Discussion 5 Overview of the Online Music Industry 5 Porter’s 5 Forces Analysis 6 VRIN Analysis 7 Analyzing Spotify’s Strategies 8 Information Technology in Spotify 9 Conclusion 10 References 12 Introduction Spotify is a Swedish company involved in providing music streaming services. The streaming content provided by the company is availed from a number of independent and major record labels (Gilmour, 2011). Some of the major content providers of the company include Warner Music Group, Universal, EMI and Sony. Spotify was founded in the year 2006 and is currently headquartered in London,  United Kingdom. The company however started to provide music streaming services from the year 2008. Within two years of its operation, the total membership of the company reached 10 million and between them around 2.5 million were paid members. According to latest reports, as of 2012 the total paid membership of the company reached more than 5 million (Barker, 2012). ... Recently, the company expanded its wings to countries such as Australia, Sweden, Faroe Islands, Belgium, Liechtenstein, Portugal, Denmark, Austria, Finland, France, New Zealand, Germany, Poland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Andorra, the Netherlands, Monaco, Norway, Spain, Switzerland, and the United States. This report will evaluate the strategies of the company with the help of several strategic frameworks. In addition, the report will also shed light on the strategic role played by information technology towards the progress of the company. However, the report will mainly emphasize on how the company is using information systems to support their business strategy. The report will begin by providing a brief overview of the digital music industry. Discussion Overview of the Online Music Industry The digital music industry can be broadly classified into two segments: the digital download market and streaming market. The digital music industry is one of the new business segments and is growing at a rapid pace. According to reports, in 2012 the revenue of this industry witnessed a growth of 8 % from 2011 and is presently valued at $5.2 billion (Thomes, 2011). However most of the revenue is generated by digital download business and the streaming market contributes only 10 % of the total revenue. Interestingly, the growth rate of the streaming market is more. Companies belonging to this industry, principally differentiate themselves on the basis of regions of operation, licensed music libraries, features, and also the packaging. Apart from that, companies are also offering several value added services which allow the users to know what their friends