Spotify’s decision earlier this week to improve its free, ad-supported tier wasn’t an unexpected move. In July, CEO Daniel Ek said he was “unhappy” with the company’s advertising business, and executives laid out their efforts to turn it around. Some changes would be technical, such as giving brands the ability to buy programmatic ads through platforms such as The Trade Desk. The move to allow free streamers to choose their songs rather than listen on shuffle mode was more straightforward.

The problem with free, ad-supported music isn’t confined to Spotify, though. Around the world, streaming revenue from audio and video supported by advertising fell sharply in the first half of the year. In the U.S., free streaming — both audio and video — from on-demand and social platforms fell 2.9% to

See Full Page