Spotify to host top stars' albums for premium subscribers only

Deal with Universal Music is first time users of music streaming service’s ad-supported free tier won’t have full access to catalogue

New albums from some Universal Music artists will be available only to premium Spotify subscribers for the first two weeks of release, the two companies have announced.

The deal means that for the first time ever, users of Spotify’s ad-supported free tier will not have access to the full catalogue of music on the streaming service. Instead, they will have to choose between paying up – the paid-for tier begins at £9.99 a month – or waiting another two weeks.