Music streaming service Spotify has taken another important step in getting its service into North America with rumours that the company has just signed a deal with Universal Music group.
Spotify has been trying to thrash out deals with the big 4 music labels to get their service up and running in North America.
It has already got EMI and Sony on its side while also being in “advanced discussions” with Warner in anticipation of releasing the the service in North America.
The London-based company offers paid versions of its service that give users unlimited amounts of music without ads.
They also offers users a free, ad supported version of its service, but in April the company set new limits, much to the annoyance of it’s loyal free users, on the amount of free music listeners could access before being asked to upgrade to the paid option.
Apparently the advertising it sells to support that free offering wasn’t generating enough revenue to satisfy record labels, which receive a percentage as part of their licensing deals.
This move is also thought to have been a key part in its strategy to convince record labels to allow Spotify to use their music in the US.
Spotify executives have told music companies that they’re aiming for an early July launch in the US, and although the company has publicly set and missed such dates repeatedly over the past two years, this time it appears to be better positioned to complete its plans, said the Wall Street Journal.
Spotify already has deals with all the major labels to operate in many parts of Europe and UK. Last month it partnered with Facebook to roll out a joint service allowing Facebook users to stream and share music.
Spotify wouldn’t be the first service to offer unlimited music for a subscription fee, a business model viewed favorably by many in the music industry, because it provides a reliable revenue stream. However, few such services have garnered much traction among U.S. users.
It’s unclear whether the recently tweaked version of Spotify will prove as popular in the U.S. as the original has been in Europe.
Spotify’s Premium subscription in the U.K. costs £9.99 ($16) a month and allows users to play an unlimited amount of music, without advertising, on a computer or cellphone. Spotify Unlimited costs £4.99 a month to play tracks through a computer, with no time limit.