Spotify says US launch coming 'soon'

Swedish music streaming service Spotify said Friday it will launch shortly in the United States, where it is not currently available because of copyright issues.

"Spotify is coming to the US," the company said in a full-page announcement posted online earlier this week, inviting potential users to sign up to get access to the service when it launches but offering few details.

"The award-winning music service that's taken Europe by storm will soon be landing on US shores. Millions of tracks ready to play instantly, on your computer and your phone," the announcement read.

A Spotify spokeswoman said Friday that while the announcement was made this week no launch date or further details had been made public.

Founded in 2006, Spotify is one of the world's biggest streaming websites and is currently available only in Sweden, Norway, Finland, Britain, France, Spain and the Netherlands because of copyright issues.

It said in March it had reached one million paying users. Around seven million people use its free version.

Earlier this year, Spotify slapped restrictions on its free version, slashing the amount of times a track can be played and the total amount of music users can listen to without paying.

In May, it unveiled an application enabling users to synchronise playlists and songs purchased through its service with Apple's iPod, in what industry observers saw as a clear challenge to Apple's iTunes.

The young Swedish company had previously focused solely on online streaming.

Also in May, a report in Forbes based on unnamed sources said Facebook was testing a service that would allow songs from Spotify's vast library of music to be streamed to members of the social network.

(c) 2011 AFP