businesses

Spotify attracts 2.5 million paying subscribers

Spotify have signed up 2.5 million paying subscribers, according to new figures released by the Swedish company today. This comes ahead of a major company announcement at a Spotify event next week, where co-founder Daniel Ek is expected to give details of major changes to the service and the businesses future. The event will be held next Wednesday on November 30 in the form of a solo press conference with Ek in New York. During the conference, Spotify’s new direction will be revealed to a group of specially invited journalists. 500,000 of the firm’s paying customers have signed on in the last two months, with the surge in growth partially attributed to the company’s US launch and its partnership with the social networking giant Facebook.

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Spotify attracts 2.5 million paying subscribers

businesses

Spotify attracts 2.5 million paying subscribers

Spotify have signed up 2.5 million paying subscribers, according to new figures released by the Swedish company today. This comes ahead of a major company announcement at a Spotify event next week, where co-founder Daniel Ek is expected to give details of major changes to the service and the businesses future. The event will be held next Wednesday on November 30 in the form of a solo press conference with Ek in New York. During the conference, Spotify’s new direction will be revealed to a group of specially invited journalists. 500,000 of the firm’s paying customers have signed on in the last two months, with the surge in growth partially attributed to the company’s US launch and its partnership with the social networking giant Facebook. The last few weeks have also seen Spotify launch in countries such as Austria and Denmark. Spotify’s tie-in with Facebook has angered some users as listened-to tracks are put on their Facebook account new feed. They feel that they have been pushed into over-sharing against their will. They are also annoyed that all new users must have a Facebook account in order to sign up.

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Spotify attracts 2.5 million paying subscribers

businesses

5 Factors for Successful Mastermind Groups

So How Do You Know if Your Mastermind Group is Optimal? Great Business Mastermind Groups deliver quantifiable value for member companies, to be sure. It is often the qualitative value that becomes life-changing for business higher-ups involved. That qualitative value can be measured by the following results: Constant Member Progress By whatever metric assigned, all constituent businesses are constantly moving toward the accomplishment of their objective in the group, be it business growth in sales, developing a scalable model, or global growth. Purposes don’t have to be financial, but this is often a measurement that is easy to keep score of a common expected outcome for small business participants. Determination Mastermind Group members must be totally committed to their objective for joining and the aggregate objective of the group. One hallmark of a mature, high-performing Mastermind Group is a high level of attendance at all group meetings and training events. As we explained in an earlier report, commitment can also be seen in the level of active involvement in the positive resolutions for the challenges encountered by other businesses in the Mastermind Group.

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5 Factors for Successful Mastermind Groups

businesses

Apple needs a few good ‘cloud’ men (or women)

Apple is hoping to boost their cloud leadership, as the company shifts the way their customers store and access their digital content away from downloadable software. The Wall Street Journal reported the company has recently been looking to recruit new senior-level executives with experience in Web-based software. According to the Journal’s sources, Apple has approached at least one prominent Internet entrepreneur about a future position and recruiters have been informed about the company’s needs. The new recruitment drive indicates an interesting sea-change in Apple’s position as pioneers in hardware and downloadable applications. However, consumers more and more no longer want their entertainment tied only to specific devices, and Apple certainly wants to meet those needs.

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Apple needs a few good ‘cloud’ men (or women)

businesses

Twitter sues Twittad for rights to ‘tweet’ trademark

Twitter is suing online advertising service Twittad in an attempt to win trademark registration for the word ‘tweet’. Twitter already owns trademarks ‘retweet’ and ‘cotweet’, yet were beat to it by third-party developers Twittad, which filed its application for the ‘tweet’ trademark back in 2008 as part of its strapline, “let your ad meet tweets”. The microblogging site, with over 100 million active users across the globe, has a view to reclaiming the trademark and the lawsuit marks commencement of a fierce battle over who is the rightful owner of the term. Outlining its reasons for legal action, Twitter said in its lawsuit file that Twittad’s use “unfairly exploits the widespread association by the consuming public of the mark TWEET with Twitter, and threatens to block Twitter from its registration and legitimate uses of its own mark.” Third-party developers have long been a thorn in the side of Twitter, not only in terms of trademark issues but also through the development of unique tools that use the site to aid their businesses. Take, for example, Tweetdeck and the Tweetie iPhone app. Both monetised on the microblogging phenomenon, but also found themselves acquired by Twitter, who continue to snap up other third parties. Guardian tech blogger Jemima Kiss suggested the lawsuit is about far more than simple terminology for Twitter. “What this trademark battle is about, though, is not terminology, but about asserting control over interaction with users that ultimately leads to revenue. Would Twitter be using a lawsuit to aggressively pursue a trademark if it was being used by anything other than an advertising company?” In a direct move, Twitter has suspended Twittad’s account for the time being

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Twitter sues Twittad for rights to ‘tweet’ trademark