Spotify, a music streaming service, reached an important milestone of 3 million paying users which is 20% of its user base. Spotify allows users to listen to music on various devices such as computers, mobile phones, or televisions.
The spike in premium users may have occurred since it limited free users who used the service for six months to only listen to ten hours a month.
The Swedish company recently came to the United States last July, after delay with negotiating with the major music labels to license their music. Previously, they operated in Europe but delayed their US launch till they could be legal.
Spotify has had problems making a profit since coming stateside. This is in comparison to Grooveshark, which was doing well financially with the exception of its new legal battle against the major music labels for not paying royalties since signing a licensing agreement.
Both services allow users to listen to music without the need to pay to download on iTunes or try and find a good quality version on YouTube. This is also in comparison to Pandora, which picks songs to play based off your individual music preferences. n