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Spotify will launch its IPO in April

The music streaming service says it will list shares worth up to $1 billion on the NYSE on April 3.

Steven Musil Night Editor / News
Steven Musil is the night news editor at CNET News. He's been hooked on tech since learning BASIC in the late '70s. When not cleaning up after his daughter and son, Steven can be found pedaling around the San Francisco Bay Area. Before joining CNET in 2000, Steven spent 10 years at various Bay Area newspapers.
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Spotify Investor Day

Spotify CEO Daniel Ek speaks onstage Thursday during Spotify's Investor Day in New York City.

Ilya S. Savenok/Getty Images

Will Spotify's IPO be a hit? We should find out in just a few weeks.

The music streaming service plans to launch its initial public offering on April 3, Daniel Ek, the music streaming service's CEO, said Thursday during the company's inaugural "Investor Day." The company plans to release additional investor guidance on March 26, according to Variety, which attended the lengthy presentation.

A Spotify spokesman later confirmed the IPO date.

Spotify is twice the size of Apple Music , its closest competitor in the streaming music market, the Sweden-based startup said last month in a regulatory filing for its IPO. Spotify commands about 42 percent of the market, with 71 million paying members and 159 million listeners who use the service at least once a month, the company said. 

Spotify's success underscores the cultural shift in how we play and pay for music. Rather than buying music outright, like we did in the era of CDs and digital downloads, people are increasingly paying flat fees for all-you-can-access tunes.

Spotify will trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol SPOT, listing shares worth up to $1 billion. The startup is taking the atypical route of a direct listing, offering new shares to trade in the open market without banks underwriting the offering.

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