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Spotify Raises $526 Million As Apple Charges Into Streaming
An anonymous reader writes: Spotify has raised an enormous $526 million in funding to fight off Apple's new Apple Music subscription service. As part of the funding round, European carrier TeliaSonera is responsible for $115 million. The music service now has 20 million paying subscribers and 75 million monthly active users, doubling the subscriber base since May of 2014. The LA Times reports: "U.S. companies participating in the Spotify funding include Halcyon Asset Management, GSV Capital, D.E. Shaw & Co., Technology Crossover Ventures, Northzone and P. Schoenfeld Asset Management, said the person familiar with the matter, who was not authorized to comment publicly. British investment firms Baillie Gifford, Lansdowne Partners and Rinkelberg Capital, along with Canadian hedge funds Senvest Capital and Discovery Capital Management also took part. In a statement disclosing its investment, TeliaSonera said it would work with Spotify to come up with innovations in media distribution, customer insights, data analytics and advertising."
... perhaps now they can hire at least one person to work on the many long-standing issues with their interface. It shouldn't be too difficult; media players all the way back to the original Winamp had features that Spotify is still lacking.
Apple wants all the big music publishers to cease allowing any free streaming of music. Apple pushing music labels to kill free Spotify streaming ahead of Beats relaunch Why Apple wants to end the era of free music streaming
And again, like I asked (and was not answered) in the other thread in which you posted this screed yesterday:
Citation, please; or STFU, hater.
And no, a single blog quoting "multiple [unnamed] sources" doesn't count as a "citation". Nor does another article that quotes the blog that quotes "multiple sources". Someone has to actually stand up and say "Yes, I saw this, I heard this." Unnamed sources don't cut it. Especially when the Business Insider article you proffered seems to say that multiple entities from mulitple related angles (labels, artists, etc) are on the "No Free Streaming" bandwagon; but it is clear that "The Verge" is the one-and-only-source that is saying that Apple is actively pushing that agenda.