Spotify overwhelmed by mobile demand

The hit music streaming service Spotify has been forced to rein-in new subscriptions to its free service after being overwhelmed with demand following the launch of its mobile applications earlier this month.

This week the company, which offers free ad-funded music streaming as well as premium accounts, said that it would have to temporarily reinstate its invite only system in the UK “due to the huge demand in the UK over the last few days since we launched our mobile service.”

Last week Spotify launched an iPhone app and a version for the Android platform. The mobile offerings are only available as a premium service, priced at £9.99 per month, which removes the audio adverts delivered to users of the free offering every few song, with the move to slow subscriptions suggesting that premium accounts are selling like hot cakes. Both mobile versions of Spotify boast an offline mode that makes playlists available at all times, even when no wifi or cellular connection is available.

In the meantime potential Spotify users will have to get an invite from a friend or sign up to the waiting list, or just shell out £9.99 for a premium account.