Spotify hits milestone with 1 million subscribers

Image caption, Spotify's founders Martin Lorentzon (left) and Daniel Ek are in the middle of a $100m fund-raising

Online music service Spotify has announced that it now has one million paying subscribers across Europe.

News of the milestone comes as Spotify continues a fund-raising from investors in advance of a launch in the US.

The Anglo-Swedish company has 6.67 million users, the majority of whom use a free service subsidised by adverts.

Spotify's profitability depends on users switching to premium services that remove adverts and allow listeners to use smartphones.

The company announced on its website's blog: "It seems like only yesterday we were hatching ideas for a new music service in a tiny office-cum-apartment with a broken coffee machine.

"So it's with a sense of real pride and excitement that we can announce a new milestone today, having welcomed our millionth paying subscriber to the service. "

Spotify is in the process of a $100m funding round that analysts estimate values the company at $1bn (拢616m).

The company's plans to launch in the US have been delayed by concerns at the big music labels about the success of its business model.

Spotify pays royalties each time a song is played on its service.

Last year, it was estimated that the subscriber base represented about 7%-8% of Spotify's total user base.

But with one million subscribers, that percentage has risen to about 15%, the company said.