Spotify deals for an interest in going public, Spotify announced that artists will be able to make albums temporarily exclusive to the Premium service if they are part of Universal Music Group or Merlin Network. On 28 February 2018, Spotify filed for a direct listing on the New York Stock Exchange. Spotify's shares began trading on 3 April 2018. Spotify operates under a freemium business model (basic services are free, while additional features are offered via paid subscriptions). Spotify generates revenues by selling premium streaming subscriptions to users and advertising placements to third parties. In December 2013, the company launched a
Criticism of Spotify time the artist removed his albums from competing services, following the release of his debut album "Reasonable Doubt", and later "The Blueprint". In August 2015, Spotify changed its privacy policy. The change included the following paragraph: With your permission, we may collect information stored on your mobile device, such as contacts, photos, or media files. Local law may require that you seek the consent of your contacts to provide their personal information to Spotify, which may use that information for the purposes specified in this Privacy Policy. Gordon Gottsegen of "Wired" wrote that the changes were "ridiculous", and compared Spotify