In the new issue of Music Week, Deezer’s VP, northern and southern EMEA, Phil Moore has detailed the company’s stance on key issues relating to streaming. In this week’s Big Interview, Moore discusses the ongoing debate regarding exclusives and the current hot topic of windowing that has recently seen Spotify sign a new, multi-year global license agreement with Universal Music Group (UMG) and Merlin.
On the topic of how Deezer view exclusives in the streaming space, Moore was unequivocal on his company’s stance.
“We don’t like them and we don’t think they’re good for the industry,” he stated. “They make it less about what’s good for the consumer and more about the commercial concerns of an individual company. Music is a passion and we’d rather our customers have access to everything.”
Moore has, however, suggested that Deezer is agreeable to a more generic form of none-company specific windowing that would keep content off freemium tiers for a period after release.
“Weirdly, customers are more used to that,” he stated. “They get that I think, so as a company we have less of an issue around that model.”
Speaking about his broader views on how the current intense period of competition in streaming will pan out, Moore has also predicted that there will be other entrants into the world soon.
“I think there will always be amalgamation in every new industry,” said Moore. “I think there is room globally for seven or eight players and then some more local ones. But, I don’t think we’ve seen the last of the big entrants coming in with big cheque books, buying up some of the smaller or medium sized players or just going for it themselves. I think we’ll see some people who haven’t got the proposition right moving out and then guys like ourselves moving up and moving forward.”
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