Streaming music service Spotify is growing in the UK and soon may overtake iTunes as Europe's biggest digital music service, reports Music Week, which spoke to Spotify's European head of media relations Kevin Brown [Via The Guardian].
Spotify's growth in the UK is quickly accelerating with the service adding more than 1 million active users in the past four months, claims Brown. Many of these new customers are lucrative subscribers who are paying for the premium service instead of listening to the ad-supported, free version. Brown attributes this growth to Spotify's partnerships with Vodafone and the Sunday Times.
"Some of our partners are saying Spotify is now generating more revenue each month across Continental Europe than iTunes," Spotify's head of label relations in Europe, Kevin Brown, told industry site Music Week.
"Given that download sales are declining and Spotify is growing rapidly, particularly in the UK, it is only a matter of time before Spotify is bigger than iTunes across Europe as a whole."
Spotify last year had 24 million active users and 6 million paying users worldwide, but the company has not updated those figures to reflect this recent increase. Brown believes the company is close to surpassing 10 million paying users, and many believe the company is waiting for this milestone to announce updated membership numbers.
In the U.S., iTunes is the market leader for digital music downloads and iTunes Radio is number three for streaming music. In the streaming market, iTunes Radio holds an 8 percent market share, with Spotify holding 6 percent. The pair trail iHeartRadio (9 percent) and market leader Pandora, which dominates with 31 percent market share.
In an effort to standardize the experience across platforms, Spotify recently updated its iOS app with a darker theme as well as new fonts and icons that match the web and desktop versions. All platforms also received a new personalized Your Music section and an updated Browse feature.
Top Rated Comments
1. It's free.
2. It uses less battery.(On your phone)
3. There are plenty of good stations, that is, where I am.
4. Is greener, no server farm involved.
5. You'll never know what they play next.(Which is a good thing to me)
a.s.o.
Totally agreed. A Spotify subscription was the best music purchase I ever made.
Best music app out there, hands down.