Spotify files for IPO, aims to raise $1 billion

SAN FRANCISCO -- Music-streaming pioneer Spotify is hoping to attract a new crowd of fans -- on Wall Street -- to help fend off a growing competitive threat posed by Apple (AAPL), Amazon (AMZN) and other major online music services.
       
Spotify on Wednesday filed for an initial public offering of stock aimed at raising $1 billion. That figure could change as Spotify's bankers assess investor demand for Spotify shares ahead of the IPO, a process likely to be completed early in the spring.

The company, which plans to list on the New York Stock exchange and trade under the ticker symbol "SPOT," could be valued at upwards of $20 billion.

The company's first steps toward its offering came in a confidential filing a few weeks ago, but the documents weren't released until Wednesday.
       
The numbers revealed Spotify's music-streaming service boasts 71 million paid subscribers, nearly twice as many as Apple's rival service, and a total of 159 million active users. 

Still, Spotify still isn't profitable. The Luxembourg-based company reported a loss of $1.5 billion last year on revenues of nearly $5 billion, according to its filing.