Spotify has "five to six times" the usage of other streaming services

Crikey, we had a hunch that Spotify was popular, but in an interview with The Register, Spotify's Daniel Ek claimed that his service has "five to six times" the usage of other streaming music services.

He also disclosed the original rationale of the company - "It's not hard to do illegal software... Spotify would be the most popular service in the world if it was illegal". He called going "legal" a challenge.

"It's sad that the one dominant player, iTunes, doesn't care about the music industry", he said. "We want to be the second company that writes huge cheques to artists".

Ek also admitted, however, that his company wasn't making money: "We're in one of the world's worst recessions, and it's taken longer to get started. We view it as we haven't really started yet. In four months you can't build a self-sustaining model, like iTunes".

He disclosed that he'd thought about video, but wasn't planning anything yet because it would mean competing with YouTube. He also fleshed out the company's plans regarding downloads - emphasising how simple it needed to be.

Spotify is still a young company, but there are many who already regard it as the future of music. Whether it's "access over ownership" philosophy succeeds will depend on how quickly it can bring mobile and offline services to market. We're looking forward to hearing more.