Role as default music service bolsters ranks

Spotify has enrolled more than four million subscribers to its music service in the past six weeks. Much of this growth can be attributed to its tight integration with Facebook, which was launched at the Facebook f8 conference on September 22. If Spotify's growth continues on its current track, it could have as many as 35 million subscribers within 12 months.

Spotify offers users a choice of free or paid subscriptions. The free service forces subscribers to see ads, and limits free listening to 10 hours per month. A paid $5 per month service is ad-free, and offers unlimited listening. A Premium $10 per month option adds mobile streaming, an offline mode, enhanced sound quality, and exclusive content.

Spotify initially entered the US market in July. It attracted about 70,000 subscribers. The company received a big boost when Facebook announced that Spotify would be the company's default music service. When the social network's users click on a music app tab on their home page, they now can access songs shared by friends through Spotify. In the first two weeks after the f8 launch, Spotify's paying subscriber base jumped to over 250,000 individuals. Since then, Spotify's growth has only accelerated.

Currently, Spotify is only integrated to Facebook in a few countries: the US, UK, Sweden, Spain, the Netherlands, Norway, France and Switzerland. To maintain its robust growth, Spotify will need for Facebook to expand its tie-in with the music service to a larger portion of the social site's 800 million users worldwide. [via Business Insider]

By Electronista Staff