Spotify announcement prompts flurry of online rumours

A promise by Swedish music streaming service Spotify on Monday to unveil a “new direction” has sparked a flurry of rumours and speculation about what sort of innovation the company may have in store.

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On Monday, Spotify sent out a press release announcing a November 30th press conference which will explain “what's next for Spotify”.

Co-founder and CEO Daniel Ek promised “a special guest or two” would be on hand for the announcement, but the company has been hesitant to divulge any further details.

“At Spotify, we continually strive to innovate and deliver exciting new experiences for our users," a Spotify spokesperson told tech news website PCMag.com.

"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 press conference announcement comes on the heels of the release of Google Music, an online music storage service and music store from the search engine giant.

Earlier in the month, Apple released a new feature related to its online music store iTunes which allows users to store their digital music files online, giving them on-the-go access.

News of the mysterious Spotify press conference led to speculation among a number of tech news websites that the company plans to release an app for the Apple iPad.

Others have speculated that the company plans to launch an MP3 music store in the United States, similar to one currently offered to Spotify users in Europe, whereby users can buy digital music files without using Amazon or Apple's iTunes.

In April, rumours were circulating that Spotify was in talks with film companies about a possible deal for distributing feature films.

So far, nothing has materialized, however, and Ek denied the rumours at the time.

In July, Spotify launched its streaming music service, which offers a catalogue of 15 million songs, to US-based users and in September the company announced a tie up with Facebook allowing users to share their listening activities with friends on the social networking site.

Spotify was founded in 2006 by Swedes Daniel Ek, then in his twenties, and Martin Lorentzon.

The service first launched in 2008 in Sweden and says it has since become the world's largest streaming service with over 10 million users worldwide.