Spotify Surges to 70,000 Paid Subscribers, Should Pandora Fret?
Spotify doesn't yet have rival streaming music services shaking in their boots, but give it time and that could very well change. Having now (and at long last ) officially launched in the United States, Spotify has been able to attract more than 70,000 paying subscribers in a little more than one week. That's according to Billboard, which claims three labels/publisher executives confirmed its figure, even if Spofity is unwilling to go on record just yet with any official numbers. That didn't stop the music service from doing a little bit of gloating, however.
"The launch of Spotify in the U.S. has exceeded our expectations in both the response to invitations for the free service as well as subscriptions," Spotify told Billboard. "We aren't going to discuss numbers at this state but we are excited to be here and confident that Americans will love Spotify as much as they already do in Europe."
For the sake of comparison, Rhapsody, which launched in 2001, has around 800,000 paid users. Napster, purchased by Best Buy in 2008, had 761,000 subscribers at last count, while Rdio is believed to have fewer than 100,000 paying customers. In other words, Spotify is off to a stellar start.
"The launch of Spotify in the U.S. has exceeded our expectations in both the response to invitations for the free service as well as subscriptions," Spotify told Billboard. "We aren't going to discuss numbers at this state but we are excited to be here and confident that Americans will love Spotify as much as they already do in Europe."
For the sake of comparison, Rhapsody, which launched in 2001, has around 800,000 paid users. Napster, purchased by Best Buy in 2008, had 761,000 subscribers at last count, while Rdio is believed to have fewer than 100,000 paying customers. In other words, Spotify is off to a stellar start.
