Spotify won’t launch in the US by year’s end


8 Dec 2010

Music-streaming service Spotify, which is available in several European countries not including Ireland, will not be arriving to the US by the end of the year, in spite of previous claims.

According to CNET, Spotify has not signed any licensing deals with a major record label, in spite of spending more than a year negotiating with them.

As a result, it has missed its deadlines for an end-of-year launch for US shores.

The service is popular in Europe, operating in countries such as the UK, Finland, France and Norway. It is currently unavailable in Ireland due to similar legal issues.

The free version offers 20 hours of music a month with advertising. The paid version, which has 750,000 subscribers, offers unlimited streaming and mobile accessibility.

However, in spite of this large paid user base, the site’s overall membership reaches 10 million, which may not be viable for record labels to operate with. Reportedly, record heads wish to see the subscription rate double before entering the deal.

And with big companies such as Apple rumoured to be considering moving into cloud streaming of music, there could be trouble ahead for Spotify if it can’t arrange a launch for its potential American audience.