The company sent out an invitation on Monday for its first-ever U.S. press event on Nov. 30 in New York City, announcing that it has “exciting news” to share.
The news comes as Spotify faces new competitive pressures. Just last week, Google unveiled its free Google Music service, which allows users to upload, share and browse songs, and then listen to them on the go via cloud storage on Android devices. Plus, there's growing concern among music partners about the impact of streaming on their business. More than 200 labels and publishers pulled out of various streaming services, from Spotify to Napster and Rdio, after a study claimed streaming music was hurting record sales. Heavy hitter labels like Sony, though, were not among those pulling out.
"At Spotify, we continually strive to innovate and deliver exciting new experiences for our users,” Spotify said in an email statement to Mashable. “In New York on November 30th, we are holding our first press conference to unveil the latest major development from Spotify – and a new direction for the company.”
The event dubbed “What’s next for Spotify?” is being touted as a global press conference that will also stream online. CEO Daniel Ek will serve as master of ceremonies and there should also be a special guest or two.
The invitation is otherwise slim on details, but since this is Spotify’s first U.S. press conference and it’s not typical for Ek to address the press in this manner, we’re expecting some big news.
Some speculate that Spotify may launch a new music store where members can purchase songs directly from the service. European Spotify members can already buy songs. However, does bringing this capability to the U.S. warrant its press conference?
The event will kick off at 11:30 a.m. EST next Wednesday and Mashable will be there to deliver the full report.
Are you excited about potential changes in the Spotify service? Do you use it now? Let us know you thoughts in the comments below.