Spotify has revealed it now has 2.5 million paying users, after expanding into the US earlier this year.
The music streaming service said it had a million paying users in March, before it expanded into the American market.
Spotify shifted from a largely ad-supported system to focusing on gaining paid subscriptions earlier this year, limiting free users' listening time as it tried to push them to upgrade. It also recently linked up with Facebook, requiring new users sign up via the social network.
While Spotify is winning over users, it last week lost 200 labels after their distributor pulled out of several streaming services, citing "concerns that these services cannibalise the revenues of more traditional digital services".
“They provide poor revenue and have a detrimental affect on sales,” STHoldings said. “Add to that, the feeling that their music loses its specialness by its exploitation as a low value/free commodity."
Spotify said it had big news to unveil soon. "We’ve got some exciting developments in the works, which we’ll share with you very soon," said spokesman Andres Sehr in a
post on the Spotify blog. The music service has called a press conference for next Wednesday.
