Yes, Spotify CEO Daniel Ek wants to make music like water! Then again, Coke pays better – or at least offers a far better marketing platform. “One of our big challenges is: How do we reach people? How do we have our voice heard?” Ek remarked, in comments captured by AdAge.

“We want music to be like water, everywhere. But when you think about it, we want music to be like Coke, which really is everywhere.”
(yes, he said this…)

Which brings us to a massive branding partnership between Coca-Cola and Spotify, announced Wednesday in New York. Here are the details of the deal.

(1) Advertising Spend? Unclear…
There could be a big fat check involved here. But at this stage, we’re not clear on what that is, or if Coca-Cola is paying Spotify for this massive, multi-continental partnership. A Spotify representative declined to answer that question (surprise).

(2) Spotify will power a major Coca-Cola Music expansion.
According to the companies, Spotify will be a ‘key underlying technology’ partner as Coke Music expands globally. Coca-Cola has launched music applications and services in the past, though this represents a completely new chapter.

(3) Spotify and Coke will be major advertising partners.
Spotify will benefit from massive branding that magnifies its already-powerful Facebook tie-up. A major Coke-centric campaign will start splashing later this year, and 2013 will be a big year for this and other joint campaigns.

(4) Coke will make snazzy Spotify apps.
AllThingsD journalist Peter Kafka notes that Spotify will not be building a dedicated Coke platform, based on existing licensing agreements/restrictions. That said, Coca-Cola has already authored a branded app for the Spotify platform, with more (including an Olympics version) ahead.

(5) Yes, there’s Facebook integration. Lots of it.
Spotify is now part of Coke’s Timeline-enabled page (and its 40 million-plus fans). And of course, Coke benefits, too. “This partnership takes advantage of the existing Spotify relationship with Facebook and the Coca-Cola Facebook audience of over 40 million fans to create a social experience that will reach millions of interconnected consumers around the world,” the companies stated.

Digitalmusicnews.com