Arik Hesseldahl

Recent Posts by Arik Hesseldahl

Spotify's Daniel Ek: We'll Launch in the U.S., Just Not Sure When

Spotify, the U.K.-based music-streaming site will eventually launch the service in the U.S., its CEO Daniel Ek said in an interview at D:Dive Into Mobile, but he wouldn’t commit to a specific date. That’s a step back from a previous promise to launch the service in the U.S. in 2010.

Asked specifically about a prior commitment to launch Spotify in the U.S. before the end of the year, Ek blamed the complexities of working with U.S. recording labels. “It’s a business problem and a product problem at the same time.”

He said he remains hopeful about launching in the U.S. “We are definitely going to do the U.S., you’ll see. I’m here today….I can’t commit to a specific date.”

Ek said Spotify has about 750,000 customers in Europe who pay an average of 10 euros per month.

Asked if Spotify is raising money in order to perhaps put more on the table in negotiations with music labels, Ek said the company is not raising money right now. “But we won’t rule it out.”

Latest Video

View all videos »

Search »

D Conference Mailing List

Sign up for News about D Conferences

When AllThingsD began, we told readers we were aiming to present a fusion of new-media timeliness and energy with old-media standards for quality and ethics. And we hope you agree that we’ve done that.

— Kara Swisher and Walt Mossberg, in their farewell D post