Spotify announces surprise deal: Free Hulu for premium users - New York Post

Spotify is bringing more than music to the ears of its premium subscribers.

“Today is the first time that we’re offering a Hulu plan to the masses as part of the $9.99 Spotify Premium subscription,” says Marc Hazan, global head of premium business development for the Swedish music-streaming giant, in a statement released Tuesday morning.

“As we push towards making Spotify Premium a gateway to a bigger world of entertainment, we’re fully committed to finding new ways to enhance the overall experience for our Premium users and this is just the beginning.”

The details were dropped on Spotify’s official blog: US subscribers on the $9.99-a-month premium tier will receive free subscriptions to the ad-supported tier of Hulu, which typically runs $5.99 a month. The Spotify-and-Hulu bundle’s $12.99 fee is also slashed to $9.99.

The new combo deal makes Hulu’s catalog of 85,000 TV episodes binge-able for the roughly 20 million Spotify subscribers in America.

“Devour Hulu’s library of hit TV series and films, current shows from every major U.S. broadcast network, and acclaimed Hulu Originals to your heart’s desire at no extra charge,” the blog post says. “That’s right, you are getting Hulu on us.”

But surely there’s a catch, right? The deadline to sign up for this “limited quantity” offer is June 10. Other than that, there actually doesn’t appear to be much of a downside for users, Rolling Stone reports.

“The streaming service’s choice to layer on a video subscription for free is likely fueled by continued cutthroat competition in the music-streaming space, as several of its rivals build out entertainment offerings on top of music,” Amy X. Wang writes.

The merger of two streaming services could position both to compete against YouTube and Apple’s music and video expansions.

After all, as Spotify’s blog brags: “Just take a look at [Hulu’s] dystopian drama ‘The Handmaid’s Tale.’ Fans of the show quickly headed to Spotify to stream the songs woven into many episodes’ pivotal scenes. US streams of Bruce Springsteen’s ‘Hungry Heart’ and the Dusty Springfield classic ‘I Only Want to Be with You’ rose 86 percent and 127 percent, respectively, the week after the songs were played in season 2 episodes last summer. Kate Bush’s ‘This Woman’s Work’ surged a whopping 433 percent after it was featured in episode 1 of the second season.”

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