There’s simply no way that Ears To The House can be alone in wondering just what on earth is up with Spotify at the moment. Call us cynical if you must – some readily do – but recent announcements have us feeling that something is going very awry within the streaming company.

First of all was the pronouncement that anyone getting less than 1000 streams on a song from 2024 won’t be getting paid for it – something which must add up substantially for the company over time. Then there was the news that they were cutting 1500 jobs – and this is on top of the 800 who have already been given the axe earlier this year.

All in all, we’re getting the impression that Spotify is trying to scrimp and save some money to see it through something or other – although the company insists that things are still going quite well. So surely in the circumstances where you’re trying to hang on to as much money as possible, you wouldn’t do anything as daft as holding a sale, no?

Well, not exactly. Our editor got an email in his inbox yesterday offering him a free trial of Spotify Premium – their tier which removes adverts and allows unlimited listening. But it’s not just the usual one month free that they’re offering – it’s a whopping three months…

Anyone signing up gets three months of Spotify Premium for free, before a charge of £10.99 per month kicks in shortly before the Easter holidays. Curiously enough, our editor wasn’t keen – saying “They couldn’t pay me to sign up”.

We suspect anyone who’s a fan of underground music might want to think twice about doing so – with that streaming threshold kicking in next year, many of your favourite artists certainly won’t benefit from your use of the site…