If Spotify could figure out how to serve artists better, rather than adding unnecessary features for listeners they could increase their value multiple fold instead of increasing the monthly price to grow revenues.

Here are some ideas:

1. Make it possible for me as a listener to pay artists directly (and take a small cut)

2. Make it possible for artists do paid live streaming shows (YouTube kind of does this)

3. Make it possible for artists to communicate with their fans directly (YouTube does this)