Spotify Starts To Look Serious

(Cannes) #Midem

We7 To Launch Paid Premium Service Feb 1st

For more than a year streaming music service Spotify has been the darling of the music press and it appears that fans agree.  Some tidbits dropped from various company sources at Cannes point to a good year for the company:

• 250,000 paid subscribers
• At very roughly 10 euros each that $40-50,000 million
• That's before revenue from ads, downloads, etc.
• 6 million free subscribers – a drain on the balance sheets for sure
• Ratio of paid to free subscribes 3.5 to 100
• Ration needed to pay the labels? 10 – 12 to 100

When will Spotify launch in the US? Founder Daniel Ek refused to comment yesterday, but sources tell Hypebot that the two biggest roadblocks are Universal in the U.S. and music publishers in general.

Meanwhile, Steve Purdham, who co-founded UK based We7 with Peter Gabriel, shared during a dinner on Friday night that they'll launch a paid service on February 1st. We7 has 2.5 million free subscribers.