Wanted: £30 million to fund Spotify

The Guardian – via its partner, PaidContent – reports that Spotify is looking for £30 million worth of funding. It quotes a line from The Times which states:

Music streaming website Spotify is trying to drum up a valuation of close to £200m as it seeks new investment of between £20m and £30m.

The Guardian article points out, though, that that statement isn’t attributed to any source. Still, we think it sounds about right. The Guardian goes on to talk about the scramble for more paid subscribers:

But as [Spotify's] popularity grows, it’s likely incurring heavy outgoings on royalties – the question is: can Spotify convert enough free users to paid, and can it profit from the advertising served to the majority, free users?

We think it may be a case of making free members more valuable to advertisers, rather than chasing the Premium dream. And, given past comments, we think the Spotify guys agree with that too.