Spotify is reportedly preparing to list on the stock exchange after the company appointed four new directors to its board and settled a multimillion-dollar copyright lawsuit.
The music streaming startup has brought on former Disney COO Tom Staggs; Padmasree Warrior, a Cisco vet who runs an electric car business; Shishir Mehrotra, YouTube’s former head of product; and Cristina Stenbeck, a Swedish investor.
It also reached a settlement in a class action lawsuit with songwriters last week which will see a US$43.4 million fund established to properly compensate for compositions used by Spotify.
Both of these moves could help Spotify be better situated for a possible public debut.
Spotify was supposed to go public earlier this year. However, that IPO could not take of due to the fact that the company’s business model was not quite ready. Even now, the company could be considering going public without an IPO, according to reports.
Spotify currently has over 100 million active users, around half of which are paying subscribers to Spotify Premium, which costs $11.99 a month in Australia.
The company’s closest rival, Apple Music, counts 20 million paying users; Tidal, fronted by the rap superstar Jay Z, a little more than one million. Amazon and Google are also in the game, with Facebook a likely entrant.
Spotify is currently on the hunt for a new Australian MD, following the exit of Kate Vale. Read more here.
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