Spotify Buys Online Recording Studio Soundtrap

Music streaming company Spotify has bought online music and audio recording studio Soundtrap, it said on Friday, declining to give financial details of the deal.

Stockholm-based Soundtrap allows its subscribers to have an online music studio and create music together with other people in real time, its website says.

"Soundtrap's rapidly growing business is highly aligned with Spotify's vision of democratising the music ecosystem," Spotify said in a statement.

Spotify is aiming to file its intention to float with US regulators towards the end of this year to list in the first or second quarter next year, sources said in September. Spotify is pursuing a so-called direct listing on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), allowing existing investors to sell shares without raising money from new ones, sources have previously told Reuters.

The direct listing is also aimed at saving hundreds of millions of underwriting fees from investment banks. A successful listing could pave the way for others, with France-based rival Deezer saying it could consider going public if Spotify is well received.

An investor survey led by technology investment and advisory firm GP Bullhound, which owns shares in Spotify, estimated the company's valuation could reach $50 billion in a few years. Investors and venture capitalists recently pointed to Spotify's position as the "undisputed market leader" in music streaming, and to rapid growth in its paying users from 5 million in 2012 to over 60 million today.