Spotify has 24 million active users, including 6 million paying subscribers

"When Ek sits for a fireside chat at the South By Southwest (SXSW) Interactive Festival here later today, the Swedish-born, aspiring music industry mogul will be able to share some fresh bragging rights: Spotify has signed another 1 million subscribers since December, bringing the total to 6 million and cementing its position as the fastest-growing digital music company ever -- second in reach only to Internet radio company Pandora. A company representative confirmed the numbers for CNET.
It's no small accomplishment. Music-streaming startups have come and gone like one-hit wonders in recent years. And yet, through a mixture of hype, a quality product, great timing, and shrewd execs and backers, Spotify has risen to prominence even as deep-pocketed behemoths like Google and Apple appear ready to jump into the music streaming business.
Spotify's latest milestone follows a December company event, held in New York, to make two big announcements: Longtime streaming holdout Metallica had signed on exclusively with Spotify, and the company had surpassed 5 million subscribers, 1 million of whom are in the U.S. All told, the company now boasts 24 million active users, well more than double what it had a year ago.
It's impressive progress, but Spotify execs acknowledge they have a long way to go before they can claim success.
"Right now," said Spotify Chief Marketing Officer Jeff Levick, "all the conversations we have are about how do we accelerate this business."
That growth comes as Spotify expands its global footprint. Over the past year, it has doubled to 20 the number of countries in which it's available. In February, it added Italy, Poland, and Portugal. In the coming months, launches are planned across South America and Southeast Asia."
Source:  Cnet, 12th March 2013
Earlier - 5m paying subscribers announced in December 2012
Earlier - 3m in January 2012