SPOTIFY: MAKING MOVES

Daniel Ek's Spotify is apparently moving on several fronts to consolidate and build on its status as leader in on-demand streaming.

The Wall Street Journal cites anonymous sources in reporting that the Swedish streamery is making a move into the video business, meeting with content providers like Maker Studios, TIME and various broadcast networks about both syndicating video content and having original material created.

With YouTube under fire for its ad-supported "freemium" model and widespread unauthorized content, Spotify clearly sees an opening prior to further opening up of the streaming space. Apple is not only expected to unveil the revamped iTunes-Beats soon and, as we suggested recently, may well also roll out a multimedia suite.

Spotify is scheduled to hold an event in NYC on 5/20, during which it may well announce these and other plans.

This on the heels of Spotify's relaunch of its three-months-for-99-cents campaign, which should give plenty of users a healthy taste of the subscription experience.

Meanwhile, Spotify is among the entities complaining to regulators that the 30% in-app purchase fee charged Apple users—the "Apple Tax," as it's known—is anticompetitive. In a report from The Verge, the fee, which applies to monthly subscription payments is eloquently described by an unidentified music exec as "fucking bullshit."

It all points to a heating-up of the streaming marketplace, just in time for summer.