http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/19/business/media/sony-executive-is-cautious-as-music-streaming-grows.html 2014-11-18 19:03:17 Sony Executive Is Cautious as Music Streaming Grows Kevin Kelleher, the chief financial officer of Sony Music Entertainment, said Taylor Swift’s feud with Spotify has raised questions about the value of free music. === Taylor Swift At an investor conference in Tokyo on Tuesday, Kevin Kelleher, the chief financial officer of Sony Music Entertainment, was asked about Ms. Swift’s recent decision to remove her catalog from Spotify. The streaming service has both paid and free tiers, and Ms. Swift apparently withdrew her music because Spotify would not make it available only to paying subscribers, who contribute the bulk of Spotify’s revenue. “A lot of conversation has taken place over the past week” in light of Ms. Swift’s decision, Mr. Kelleher said. “What it all really comes down to is, how much value is the music company and the artist getting from the different consumption methods?” “We are very encouraged with the paid streaming model,” Mr. Kelleher continued. “The key question is whether or not the free ad-supported services are taking away from how quickly and to what extent we can grow those paid services.” According to Sony, streaming and subscriptions will represent 60 percent of the music industry’s digital revenue in four years, up from just 18 percent now. Spotify, the most popular subscription service, has 50 million users around the world, 12.5 million of whom pay for monthly plans, the company reported this month. Mr. Kelleher’s comments come as the music industry over all Last week YouTube unveiled Music Key, a paid subscription tier that will eliminate ads and add other perks in exchange for monthly payments of up to $10.