Spotify Inches Closer to US Deal

The music streaming service Spotify is apparently getting closer to finally expanding from Europe into the United States. Unnamed sources claim the company has already landed at least one deal with a music label and is nearly finished wrapping up a deal with a Sony Music, according to the New York Post.

The company has been hampered in the U.S. by the record labels and keeps pushing back its projected launch window, originally slated for some time in 2009. Apparently labels are now asking the company to front some US$100 million in royalty pre-payments, and they want Spotify to push its subscription-based models in the country instead of its free services.

Despite the delays and high demands from the labels, it looks like Spotify may finally be getting close to a U.S. launch. If so, the service could be seen as a potential competitor to Apple’s purchase-based music distribution model at the iTunes Store.

“Spotify is launching in the U.S., for sure,” commented an unnamed music executive. “They’ve got deals now.”