Spotify. Image: BestStockFoto/Shutterstock
Clearly dominant in the music streaming industry, Spotify could go public by the end of 2017 as its business model proves its worth.
March was a key month for Spotify and, potentially, the music industry in general. Deep into its latest stage of evolution, the industry is struggling to find ways to generate income.
With vinyl replaced by cassettes, cassettes by CDs, CDs by MP3s and now MPp3s by streaming, it has been an awfully difficult few decades for companies to navigate a way through.
And, while Apple has showed how it’s done in the last generation – with iTunes completely changing how music was bought and sold – Spotify might prove the metric in streaming.
That become more likely in March when the company reported a continuation of its paid subscriber figures, soaring to 50m. It reached the 40m mark last September, and this was at 30m six months previous, meaning it’s growing at 20m every year.
Since then, it has acquired a series of music discovery companies, including Sonalytic and Niland.
Earlier this year, it emerged that Daniel Ek, Spotify’s chairman and CEO, was recognised by Billboard as the entire music industry’s most powerful person.
And now, the company’s much anticipated IPO could be nearing fruition.
Martin Lorentzon, co-founder of the company, recently told a radio station in Sweden that there are no plans for a listing, though Reuters quotes sources as saying otherwise.
“Martin is our co-founder and a board member, but not a spokesperson for the company. Spotify hasn’t confirmed any definitive plans to go public. It remains an option for us,” said the company.
Lorentzon, who is a significant shareholder in Spotify, told Swedish radio station Ekot that the firm had not “gotten anywhere and there is nothing planned regarding that”.
“I am not saying it is fake news, but half of what the media writes is usually correct and half is usually not,” he said.
Spotify. Image: BestStockFoto/Shutterstock
