What does SPOTIFY stand for? 

Spotify

Spotify Technology S.A. is a music streaming service developed by Swedish company Spotify Technology, which is headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden. Spotify launched their service on 7 October 2008. As of 20 August, 2018, it is available in 65 regions. It provides DRM-protected content from record labels and media companies. Spotify is a freemium service; basic features are free with advertisements or limitations, while additional features, such as improved streaming quality and music downloads, are offered via paid subscriptions. Spotify is available in most of Europe, most of the Americas, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and parts of Asia. It is available for most modern devices, including Windows, macOS, and Linux computers, iOS, Windows Phone and Android smartphones and tablets, as well as the PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One home consoles. Music can be browsed through or searched for by parameters such as artist, album, genre, playlist, or record label. Users can create, edit, and share playlists and tracks on social media, and make playlists with other users. Spotify provides access to more than 40 million songs. As of July 2018, it had 180 million monthly active users, including 83 million paying subscribers.Unlike physical or download sales, which pay artists a fixed price per song or album sold, Spotify pays royalties based on the number of artists' streams as a proportion of total songs streamed. It distributes approximately 70% of total revenue to rights holders, who then pay artists based on their individual agreements. Spotify has faced criticism from artists and producers including Taylor Swift and Thom Yorke, who argued that it does not fairly compensate musicians. In April 2017, as part of its efforts to renegotiate license deals for an interest in going public, Spotify announced that artists will be able to make albums temporarily exclusive to the Premium service if they are part of Universal Music Group or Merlin Network. On 28 February 2018, Spotify filed for a direct listing on the New York Stock Exchange. Spotify's shares began trading on 3 April 2018.

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