Spotify will soon be restricting access to some new releases to only paid users, according to The Verge.

For years now, Spotify's been taking heat for their free tier, which allows users to enjoy the same access to music that paid users do. Now that looks to change.

This restriction deal should be finalized within a few months and Spotify says that it has cleared up any clause issues with record labels that they are currently working with.

2016 was a big year for music because that’s the year artists really began to adapt the term “exclusive.” With so many streaming services battling one another and coming in between artists, the creators of the music began to exclusively release their new music via certain streaming platforms (think Drake's Apple Music deal). Though it can feel like Spotify was marginalized as a result of this exclusivity, they're still running the streaming game.

With over 50 million paid users and 50 million monthly free users, beating out both Apple and Tidal, Spotify has been getting the short end of the stick. Artists have tended to sign exclusivity deals with either Apple Music or Tidal despite the growth of the Swedish streaming service.

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