AT&T has more than 110 million subscribers in the United States, while Sprint, whose majority owner is SoftBank Corporation, has about 30 million subscribers to its service. To some degree, Spotify’s deal with Sprint allows it to catch up to Beats Music, the latest big entrant to the subscription streaming market, which arrived in January with a deal with AT&T that also included free trial periods and a discounted family plan.

Last year, Apple entered the Internet radio market with iTunes Radio, and last month Samsung introduced a similar service, Milk Music other companies including Amazon are said to be interested in streaming music as well. While Pandora and Spotify represent different forms of streaming music - Pandora is the leading Internet radio provider, while Spotify is an “on demand” service that allows users to pick exactly which songs to listen to - the competition among such companies has grown intense. Yet while it has caught on among early-adopting technology aficionados, its growth in the mainstream market has been slow, as Daniel Ek, Spotify’s chief executive, acknowledged in an interview. The service, which started in Sweden nearly six years ago and is now available in more than 50 countries, has emerged as the leading player in streaming music and is the music industry’s newest hope as sales and paid downloads decline. (The company also lets users listen free, with advertising.)įor Spotify, this “bundling” deal with a phone carrier is crucial in luring new paying customers. Spotify’s paid plans, which give users perks like saving songs on mobile devices, normally sell for $10 a month. The deal, which the companies announced on Tuesday, gives Sprint’s customers in the United States free access to Spotify’s paid version for up to six months and further discounts for more than a year beyond that period. Spotify, the streaming music company, has struck a deal with Sprint to help market and promote its service, which offers millions of songs free and by subscription.

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