Quality Perception of Spotify's Purchase Intentions in Indonesia

ABSTRACT


Introduction
The music industry is one of the industries whose digital transition & and transformation process is quite rapid.This digitalization is driven by the development & and utilization of massive communication and information technology (Jane, 2922).From the beginning of the use of vinyl which was replaced by compact discs (CDs) in the 1980s; and was replaced again by MP3 Players in the 1990s; and until now replaced by music streaming services that emerged in the mid-2010s (Dolata, 2020).
Music streaming services first entered Indonesia in 2015, namely JOOX followed by Spotify in 2016.Currently, YouTube Music and Apple Music are also available & and accessible to music lovers in Indonesia.The rise of music streaming services in Indonesia is a sign of the large number of listeners and music connoisseurs in Indonesia.Data published on the Statista website shows that music streaming service users in Indonesia will continue to increase until 2027 with growth reaching 11.57%.
However, the data does not show the prospect of a proportion of free and subscription users.The freemium business model, often used by music streaming services in Indonesia, gives users the option to listen to paid music without ads (subscription).Users who subscribe certainly provide many benefits for companies, but most consumers prefer the free option because it is considered more profitable (Niemand, Mai, & Kraus, 2019).This is a challenge for music streaming services with a freemium business model.
A variety of factors drive the desire to subscribe to music streaming services.Before consumers make a purchase, they will usually find out the advantages of the product.The decision-making process made by consumers before purchasing for certain conditions or certain reasons is a purchase intention (Johan et al., 2020).Based on previous research, purchase intentions can be assessed from three (3) indicators (Shih, 2010), namely: 1. Willingness of consumers to buy products/services (willing purchase) 2. Consumer tendency to consider purchasing products/services (considering purchase) 3. Consumer tendency to recommend purchase of products/services (recommendation purchase)

Quality Perception of Purchase Intention
In general, consumers have expectations for a product according to the information or knowledge they have (Kim, 2020).(Mirabi, Akbariyeh, & Tahmasebifard, 2015), In their research, they stated that purchase intentions are influenced by consumer perceptions, behaviors, and attitudes (Kim, 2020).Consumer perceptions, behaviors, and attitudes are formed due to the needs and preferences of each consumer (Eliasari & Sukaatmadja, 2017).If the consumer's perception of the product is not what is desired, then the consumer will move to another brand, which will cause losses for the company (Ratasuk & Gajesanand, 2020).One of them is the perception of quality.
Quality perception is a consumer's subjective assessment of a tangible and intangible product component based on their experience and knowledge (TUAN & RAJAGOPAL, 2017).Previous research has shown that quality perception positively and significantly affects purchasing intentions.One study also stated that the higher the perception of the quality of a product or service, the easier it is for customers to stay loyal to the brand (Roozy et al., 2014).

Types of Research
This research is a quantitative-descriptive study.It will be able to provide an overview of the population in general and also the relationship between research variables that are tested systematically according to conditions that occur (Rukajat, 2018).This research will examine the effect of quality perception on purchase intention and describe consumer quality perception of Spotify in Indonesia.

Data Collection and Sample Techniques
Data collection in this study was obtained through surveys.The survey was distributed to Spotify's music streaming service consumers in Jakarta and Bandung, Indonesia.The survey distribution is carried out online through social media and messengers.Purposive sampling is where samples are taken for the study in order to reflect accurate results (Zickar & Keith, 2023).
A total of 231 respondents were successfully collected for this study.From the data obtained, 11 people are not residents domiciled in Jakarta or Bandung, 93 people do not use the Spotify music streaming service, and 3 outliers.So, the questionnaires that are eligible to be used as research samples amounted to 124 respondents.

Research Measurement
This study aims to measure the effect of quality perception on the purchase intention of Spotify's music streaming service.For quality perception, 5 indicators (Technicality, perceived usefulness, perceived value, perceived enjoyment, perceived fee) will be researched and derived from 19 measurements.Meanwhile, the number of indicators and measurements studied for purchase intentions is 3.

Data Analysis
This study used a simple linear regression analysis conducted using SPSS 25 software.Simple linear regression analysis is used to see the relationship between one independent variable and the study's dependent variable with a straight-line relationship (Muttaqin & Srihartini, 2022).Thus, linear regression analysis is the objective, and this study needs to examine the effect of quality perception (X) on purchase intention (Y).The equation resulting from a simple linear regression analysis is as follows: Y =a+bX where a = Constant, b = Regression coefficient, Y = purchase intention, and X = Quality perception.A grade indicates the magnitude of the contribution from factors other than quality perception.

Description of Statistics
The number of respondents who use Spotify's music streaming service is 124.52.4% of respondents were women and 47.6% were men.33.6% of respondents came from Bandung, and 62.5% from Jakarta.Most respondents are millennials and Generation Z, as many as 89.5% of respondents aged 15-34 years; from their jobs, as many as 47.6% of respondents are private employees, followed by 25% still in student status (students/students).Meanwhile, in terms of income, 47.6% of respondents have monthly income in the range of Rp5,000,000 -Rp9,999,999.The total number of respondents who used Spotify's music streaming service was 124 respondents.Meanwhile, respondents' answers regarding perception, quality, and purchase intentions of Spotify can be seen in Table 3.Based on Table 3, the most dominant indicator for quality perception is X.13, with a mean result of 3.41.The indicator that is not dominant and gets the lowest mean result is found in the sixth indicator, namely X.18, with a mean of 3.19.The average value of the total quality perception indicator is 3.31.
Meanwhile, the most dominant indicator of the purchase intention variable with the highest mean is Y.1 with a mean result of 3.41; the least dominant indicator and gets the lowest mean result is the Y.3 indicator with a mean result of 3.25, and the average value of the total purchase intention indicator is 3.35.

Validity and Reliability Test
Validity tests are also carried out to assess the validity of the research instruments.The validity test results, which were processed using SPSS 25, showed that all indicators in this study were valid or tested for validity.The next test was a reliability test conducted using SPSS 25 software.An instrument is reliable if Cronbach's alpha value exceeds 0.5 (Hinton et al.,004).The results of these tests are shown in Table 5.

Data Analysis
As the research methodology explains, this study will use simple linear analysis to see the relationship between quality perception and purchase intention.Based on the results of SPSS 25, the regression equation in this study on the results of linear regression in Table 5 is as follows: Y = 2.865 + 0.114 X From this equation, it can be seen that the value of the regression coefficient of quality perception (X) is positive, 0.144.This number shows that the higher the value of quality perception (X), the higher the value of purchase intention (Y).Meanwhile, a positive constant value of 2.865 indicates that variables or factors other than quality perception contribute 2.865 to purchase intentions.The coefficient of determination test was also carried out in SPSS 25 to determine the number of respondents or the percentage of contribution of the influence of the independent variable in the regression model that simultaneously or together influenced the dependent.The results of the coefficient of the determination test show that the value of Adjusted R-Square is 0.529.The percentage of the influence of the independent variable simultaneously on the dependent variable is by multiplying the Adjusted R-Square coefficient by 100%, resulting in a magnitude of 52.9%.This states that all independent variables of quality perception can explain the dependent variable of purchase intention by 51.9%, while other factors outside the model explain the remaining 48.1%.Next, a t-test was conducted to determine whether, in the regression model, the study's independent variable, namely quality perception, had a significant effect on the dependent variable, namely purchase intention.Hypothesis testing with α = 5% (0.05) obtained quality perception variable (X) indicated by t count positive value of 4.674 greater than the t table, 1.657, and significance value of 0.000 smaller than the significant value of research 0.05, which means H1 is accepted.Thus, the perception of quality positively and significantly affects purchase intentions.The results of the t-test can be seen in Table 8.The results showed that quality perception positively and significantly influences purchasing intentions.These results are consistent with previous research examining the relationship between perceived quality and purchase intention.So, one of the efforts that Spotify's music streaming service can make to increase subscription consumers is to increase their perception of Spotify.
The quality perception indicators in this study have been adjusted to the industry and type of Spotify service.The statistical description (Table 3) shows that the dominant quality perception indicator is X.13, which refers to consumers' perception of their level of pleasure when using Spotify.This shows that consumers' perception of the pleasure provided by Spotify is quite good among all indicators.
One important factor that affects the enjoyment of application users is UI / UX, which can help users navigate content, information, etc.Not only that, a good UI/UX can improve the convenience of application users (Pratama & Cahyadi, 2020).One of Spotify's selling points that pleasures consumers is Spotify Wrapped (Philip & Pradiani, 2024), which is released at the end of every year.This program should be maintained.
Meanwhile, Spotify's quality perception indicator with the lowest mean is X.18, related to price.As the introduction mentions, music streaming services with a freemium model have challenges in increasing subscription users.Spotify has tried to create various tier or price plans for consumers in Indonesia; this has also been successfully done for the first time in India by issuing a daily subscription plan (Colbjørnsen et al., 2022).However, this may be less known by consumers, so consumer perceptions regarding prices are still not good.

Conclusion
Spotify is one of the most popular freemium music streaming services in Indonesia.One of the challenges for the freemium model is subscription user acquisition.This research shows that one of the factors that positively and significantly influences purchasing intentions is the perception of quality.The better consumers' quality perception of Spotify, the higher consumers' purchase intentions.This purchase intention will help Spotify acquire subscription users.The results of this study also show that consumer perception of Spotify subscription prices is still not good.In this case, Spotify should market its low-tier plan to improve consumer price perceptions.