Spotify joins Uber to put music to shared rides

[STOCKHOLM] The world's biggest music streaming service Spotify will team up with US car-sharing start-up Uber to offer users personalised music during their rides, the Swedish company said on Monday.

"With our new first-of-its kind product partnership, Uber and Spotify Premium (paying) users can personalise their Uber ride by playing their favourite Spotify music right through the car speakers," the streaming service said in a statement on its website.

The financial details of the agreement were not made public.

Both companies have things in common: they are fast-growing start-ups which rapidly became popular worldwide; their economic model has stirred controversy; and they publish very limited financial details about their growth.

Uber has become the worst enemy of taxi drivers in the 70 cities in which it operates and has been forced to defend its legality before different courts.

Spotify, available in 58 countries, has come under fire from a number of global artists, from Radiohead to ACDC, who claim that streaming services pay too little to musicians and damage album sales.

Last week, US singing star Taylor Swift withdrew her music from the online music service over a payments spat.

Spotify replied in a blog post where it countered that it paid nearly 70 percent of its revenue back to the music world.

The joint service with Uber will be available from Friday in 10 cities worldwide - London, Los Angeles, Mexico City, Nashville, New York, San Francisco, Singapore, Stockholm, Sydney and Toronto.

AFP