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Spotify valued at $1 billion, massive investment incoming. Spotify has been valued at around $1 billion according to a number of venture capitalist sources, with a major new round of investment on the way to the Swedish music streaming service.

Spotify valued at $1 billion, massive investment incoming

The exact extent of the latest round of financing is not clear, with Spotify quickly returning a 'no comment' when asked about the matter by TechRadar today. US music label deals pending However, TechCrunch reports that numerous sources are claiming that Digital Sky Technologies (DST) are leading the Spotify deal, said to be at least $100 million. DST is the company founded by Yuri Milner and the same group of venture capitalists that has given significant backing to Facebook, Groupon and Zynga, valuing Spotify at around $1 billion.

DST About To Lead Huge Spotify Funding. European streaming music startup Spotify is in the process of closing a very large financing, say multiple sources.

DST About To Lead Huge Spotify Funding

DST, the venture firm that has backed Facebook, Groupon and Zynga, is said to be leading the deal, which values Spotify at around $1 billion. The size of the round will be $100 million or more, say our sources. The company has raised at least €82.3 million to date, including a relatively small round of financing a year ago from Founders Fund. SFR pourrait signer un partenariat avec Spotify. For Record Labels, Spotify Revenues Are "Microscopic," "Laughable," And "Pathetic" Spotify Lost $26.5 Million In 2009. What Does That Say About It's Future? Spotify now makes record labels money. Web music service spots gap in market for next generation mixtapes - Times Online. Spotify n'est pas ce que vous croyez. Il y a quelques jours, on a appris par un confidentiel de la Tribune relayé par Electron Libre, que Jonathan Benassaya, le PDG de Deezer devait quitter ses fonctions, «chassé» par ses actionnaires.

Spotify n'est pas ce que vous croyez

Il s'est avéré assez rapidement que Jonathan Benassaya ne quittait pas vraiment Deezer, du moins, pas pour le moment. Dans la foulée, les commentaires nous ont assommé de «Spotify l'a tuer» ou d'«une autoroute pour Spotify»... Spotify est certainement l'un des meilleurs outils de streaming musical du marché. Mais il ne peut se contenter de simplement proposer une bonne qualité d'écoute et un gros catalogue pour convaincre ses utilisateurs, les labels et le marché. Passés la «hype» et le «buzz» en effet, on peut douter de la viabilité de Spotify. Publicité Des doutes sur le modèle D'après différents articles (Financial Times, Paid Content, The Next Web), les labels américains disent ouvertement leurs doutes sur le business model du site de musique. Spotify – another business model on the hoof? « Brendan Cooper – your friendly social media-savvy freelance copywriter and social media consultant. Or: words make ideas make money.

I was very interested to read the recent Guardian coverage of the music streaming service Spotify, especially having been part of the beta programme and written about Spotify quite a while ago and a couple of times since.

Spotify – another business model on the hoof? « Brendan Cooper – your friendly social media-savvy freelance copywriter and social media consultant. Or: words make ideas make money.

My initial impressions were very positive. I liked the clean interface and the incredibly quick response times. But on using the service more, I started to notice that there seemed to be issues with the sound quality, and whereas I recanted to an extent, it does seem that others have picked up on this. And then there’s the adverts, which I do feel intrude on the music. I’ve been told this is why the service is free, but Last.FM and Musicovery are free and they don’t interrupt your listening pleasure with ads, that I’m aware. How much does Spotify cost to run? We analyse the numbers. [Update: I've revised this in the light of a long talk with the head of We7, who gave me some very insightful numbers.]

How much does Spotify cost to run? We analyse the numbers

The other day someone came to talk to me who said they were looking at building an online music business, but wouldn't try Spotify's model. Why not? Spotify losing in UK but profitable in Sweden. 25 November '10, 09:22am Follow Spotify, the subscription based music on demand service, has posted annual accounts for 2009 for their UK operation that show almost £17 million in losses for their 2009 accounting year.

Spotify losing in UK but profitable in Sweden

However, their operations in their home country of Sweden have shown their first annual profit of 1.5 million Euros. Spotlight On Spotify. This month’s OpenMusicMedia event in London enjoyed perhaps its biggest pre-event buzz since these digital music pow-wows began last year.

Spotlight On Spotify

The reason for this was the planned appearance of guest speaker Daniel Ek, one of the Swedish co-founders of digital music service ‘du jour’ Spotify. Thanks to David Emery via Flickr for image. The night’s theme was “Access vs. Ownership” and offered the chance for the capital’s digital music scene to discuss the relative merits of ‘buying versus renting’ as the basis upon which to form a successful business model in digital music. Music Label Execs Say Spotify's Freemium Model Is Thwarting U.S. Launch. Post from Fast Company on 06 January 2011 06:52:26 AM. © Fast Company Music streaming service Spotify promised and promised and promised it would launch stateside in 2010. The Swedish startup, which is available only in certain parts of Europe, made our list of Most Innovative Companies in part because it was one of the most promising competitors to iTunes in the U.S. (and, actually, because it was already causing a disruption pre-launch).

Note To Music Industry: Portability Is Key to Spotify Profits. In what is becoming a familiar narrative, an innovative music company — in this case Spotify, the slick P2P streaming app — has invented a service that music fans love.

Note To Music Industry: Portability Is Key to Spotify Profits

But in order to satisfy the labels’ licensing demands in order to roll out in the US, the company will either have to sell an overwhelming amount of intrusive advertising or otherwise force users to pay high monthly fees to get rid of the ads. This could result in a service no one wants to use (not that the labels would care, because they generally receive hefty upfront licensing fees well before a music startup goes under). A disagreement over these fees appears to be holding up the American release of Spotify, which has grown popular in those countries where it is available. The problem, according to one major label’s distribution arm, is that Spotify doesn’t include enough ads in its free version, so nobody gets annoyed enough to upgrade.

Nonetheless, labels should align their licensing efforts with consumer demand. The Day Spotify Changed The?World. At the dawn of a new decade, the digital music sector remains unchanged.

The Day Spotify Changed The?World

Spotify didn’t launch in 2010. If it had though, would we be different now? I think so. Had it been made available in the U.S., an iPod type moment could’ve occurred. It could’ve. And it still could. Most people have Facebook, but they don’t use Facebook. Spotify, Napster and The Quest For Premium Music Dollars. This guest post on the struggles of online music services to reach profitability is written by Michael Robertson, the founder of music sites MP3.com and MP3Tunes, as well as a number of non-music related startups like Gizmo and Dealipedia.

Spotify, Napster and The Quest For Premium Music Dollars

As one of the first entrepreneurs to battle the music labels over an online service, he has a unique perspective on the scene. A new music service called Spotify has attracted millions of users in a short time with the enticing lure of listening to any common song on your computer free. Meanwhile, the digital music grandpa Napster has quietly launched a $5 service that offers unlimited streaming plus free MP3 files. Here’s my admittedly biased look at both companies: Music Label Execs Say Spotify's Freemium Model Is Thwarting U.S. Launch. Music streaming service Spotify promised and promised and promised it would launch stateside in 2010.

The Swedish startup, which is available only in certain parts of Europe, made our list of Most Innovative Companies in part because it was one of the most promising competitors to iTunes in the U.S. (and, actually, because it was already causing a disruption pre-launch). It's now 2011.