Spotify Claims to Have Hit 10 Million Paying Subscribers Milestone

That's up from 6 million in March of last year. It also said it has more than 40 million active users, up from 24 million. Although the company wouldn't say where the growth is coming from, its international expansion has been quick, expanding from 20 markets to 56 in the last year.

CEO Daniel Ek said in a statement that Spotify is widening its lead in digital music.

Spotify, launched in Sweden in 2008, expanded to the U.S. in July 2011. It offers millions of tracks for on-demand streaming to mobile devices and computers for upward of $5 a month. It also has a free tier that comes with ads but doesn't allow specific track selection.

In April, Spotify decided to gradually phase out its P2P network. The service plans to rely solely on its central servers for streaming purposes. Spotify said, "We're now at a stage where we can power music delivery through our growing number of servers and ensure our users continue to receive a best-in-class service."

Essentially, Spotify says it has bolstered its central servers and is growing exponentially, allowing it to power music delivery without requiring a P2P service.

Back in January, Spotify announced unlimited free music for desktop users. With the older Spotify desktop client, users had to abide by grace periods, monthly usage caps and even limits on how many times they could listen to individual tracks. The company had announced that it was doing away with all these stipulations for desktop users.

Written with inputs from AP