exploremusic

One of the most well-known music streaming services is Spotify, which offers a limited free service and an “all you can eat” option on your desktop or mobile device for a fee.

Spotify seems to be doing well—from 1.5 million paying subscribers in May 2011 to 2.5 million paying subscribers at the end of the year—but some artists have opted not to join in because the royalty payments aren’t high enough.

To those who think that they’ll sell more albums by keeping their music off Spotify, though, Spotify CEO Daniel Ek says that “there’s not a shred of data to suggest that. In fact, all the information available points to streaming services helping to drive sales. Album unit sales [were] up in the U.S. in 2011, the year Spotify launched, for the first time since 2004. More than a dozen albums which debuted at number one have been available on Spotify at launch.”

“We’re seeing millions move back to listening to music legally after years of being left out in the cold. They’re helping pay a ton of money back to the industry. You’re talking 10 million active users, 2.5 million subscribers—most of them paying $120 a year, which is double the amount of your average iTunes user. Do you really want to hold back your album from people who are finally paying for music again?”

Ek says a lot more, including that he thinks “we’re kind of entering a new golden age of music.”