Yes. My understanding is that Spotify is reliant on a system used for radio broadcasts. Paying pennies to broadcast songs was already the structure. Artists make their money from merch and live gigs as it always has been. But now they can also target me for advertising based on the bands I listen to, to sell me merch and live gigs.

Back to newspapers. Traditionally if a news paper article takes my fancy I pay a small fee to access that paper and not establish a long term subscription for just that paper. A spotify type service could easily hand out credits in the same way.