Using PC streaming, you would see a similar structure to what we see today, with a listener being able to play songs freely, but with ads every 4–7 songs depending on listening duration. In January 2012, the free trial periods began to expire, and limited users to ten hours of streaming each month and five plays per song. Spotify launched in the United States in July 2011, and offered a six-month, ad-supported trial period, during which new users could listen to an unlimited amount of music for free. Registrations surged following the release of the mobile service, leading Spotify to halt registration for the free service in September, returning the UK to an invitation-only policy.

In February 2010, Spotify opened public registration for the free service tier in the United Kingdom. It distributes approximately 70% of its total revenue to rights holders (often record labels), who then pay artists based on individual agreements. Unlike physical or download sales, which pay artists a fixed price per song or album sold, Spotify pays royalties based on the number of artist streams as a proportion of total songs streamed. The service is available on most devices including Windows, macOS, and Linux computers, iOS and Android smartphones and tablets, smart home devices such as the Amazon Echo and Google Nest lines of products and digital media players like Roku. It has no presence in mainland China where the market is dominated by QQ Music.

Its user and subscriber based is largely US and Europe based, jointly accounting for around 53% of users and 67% of revenue.

Spotify is available in most of Europe, as well as Africa, the Americas, Asia and Oceania, with a total availability in 184 markets. Users can search for music based on artist, album, or genre, and can create, edit, and share playlists. As a freemium service, basic features are free with advertisements and limited control, while additional features, such as offline listening and commercial-free listening, are offered via paid subscriptions. Spotify offers digital copyright restricted recorded audio content, including more than 100 million songs and five million podcasts, from record labels and media companies. ) on the New York Stock Exchange in the form of American depositary receipts.

Spotify is listed (through a Luxembourg City-domiciled holding company, Spotify Technology S.A. It is one of the largest music streaming service providers, with over 489 million monthly active users, including 205 million paying subscribers, as of December 2022. Spotify ( / ˈ s p ɒ t ɪ f aɪ/ Swedish: ) is a proprietary Swedish audio streaming and media services provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon.

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