Spotify has hit 250,000 paying subscribers, according to its CEO Daniel Ek. He’s also revealed just how many playlists Spotify users have racked up and once again denied claims that Spotify doesn’t pay artists a fair amount for all those plays…
Ek revealed that 250,000 have opted to pay £9.99 a month for Spotify’s Premium service which ditches the ads and gives access to streaming on iPhone, Android and Symbian phones during the Midem conference in Cannes.
He also addressed allegations that Spotify underpays artists which arose following a Swedish newspaper report that claimed Lady Gaga received $167 for 1 million plays. Spotify told us the claim was untrue when it first arose but Ek now concedes that the $167 figure may have been accurate in the service’s early days.
Ek also revealed that Twitter and Facebook are the two biggest sources of traffic to Spotify. Paul Brown, Spotify’s UK boss, said its advertising revenues in Europe are a “double-digit million Euro business”. Meanwhile Spotify’s users have created almost 100m playlists with almost 30% of them being full albums.
If you’re toying with trying Spotify Premium, read our Spotify iPhone app review and Spotify for Symbian review.
Out now | £free or £9.99/month (ad-free) | Spotify (via BBC)
