Spotify claims 320,000 subscribers, big revenues
Daniel Ek reveals all
By Carrie-Ann Skinner | PC Advisor | Published: 16:10, 17 March 2010
Swedish music streaming service Spotify has revealed it has 320,000 premium users.
The basic service lets users stream music for free over the web although tracks are peppered with adverts just like commercial radio. However, for a £10 per month subscription, web users can enjoy ad-free listening.
Spotify is available in six European countries including the UK and has around seven million users, with 320,000 paying the £10 per month subscription fee. Spotify said it was gaining around 1,000 paying listeners every day.
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However, CEO Daniel Ek, said the those using the free service were as important as paying listeners.
"People label it as free, but it's not - people pay with their time, listening to targeted ads and we're seeing good results with those," said Ek at the South by Southwest conference in the US this week. Ek also revealed that 30 percent of Spotify playlists are whole albums, proving that not all web users are more interested in individual tracks rather than albums.
According to Ek, Spotify's future lays in developing the service for mobile devices. "The key with Spotify, is that it will enable your music library on all kind of devices, whether it's a phone, set-top box or games console," he said.
However, he also said the music streaming service won't become a social network. "We'll piggyback on existing social networks to use their social graph and functions. You'll be able to use that to discover new playlists and what people are listening to."
Ek also wouldn't be drawn on when the service would be made available in the US.
