Transformace modelu licenčních poplatků streamovací platformy Spotify

This bachelor thesis analyses the transformation of the royalty model of the music streaming platform Spotify with the aim of describing the opinion of experts and stakeholders on the expected impact of this transformation on the music industry. The methodology of the thesis consists of conducting in-depth interviews with music industry experts and analysing these interviews together with expert opinions from media articles and academic literature. This data is then compared with Spotify's official statement. The research analyses the main pitfalls that Spotify's new changes in connection with the renumbering of stakeholders address and the experts' opinions on the potential impact of the changes on the music industry. The results show that the majority of experts agree that the new royalty payment rules could have a negative impact mainly on smaller independent record labels and distributors. As a by-product of the research, it turned out that, according to the analysed statements, Spotify could address the problems identified by them more effectively by switching to a user-centric royalty model. In conclusion, therefore, the paper also analyses the possible reasons why Spotify has not done so and summarises the impact of the various steps that Spotify has taken as predicted by the experts.