Spotify exec says album exclusives are bad for everyone

In the pitched battle between subscription music services, don't look for Spotify to echo Apple Music's strategy of signing on premium subscribers by offering exclusive albums and tunes.

That's just bad for everyone, Troy Carter, Spotify's global head of creator services told Billboard in an interview. The theory is that someone who already invests in a yearly membership for one service is probably less likely to pay for another, similar service just to get the one exclusive album he or she wants.

Those listeners who don't pay to hear artists exclusively streaming on one specific service -- like Tidal and Apple Music -- can easily turn elsewhere to get the tunes for free, like YouTube or illegal download sites. And that, Billboard's article said, means less revenue for everyone who made the music happen: the streaming service, the producer and the artist, too.

Not that Spotify "needs" to lure fickle subscribers with an exclusive siren song. Its 39 million paid subscribers eclipses the 15 million paid user base that Apple Music announced in June.

Spotify didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.