Spotify begins to block unauthorized user accounts

Spotify is beginning to take action on users who have managed to use the service from outside of its specified countries.

In an email to a number of its users, the Sweden/UK based company says:

“We never intended to allow use of our service outside of those countries and we do not run any adverts on your account like we do in the launch countries.

We are sorry that we have to take this step. We do hope to launch our free service in more countries in the future.”

Some users have managed to gain access to the service from abroad, particularly other parts of Europe, and as such are using a service that is not currently available to them. These users are also being served ads, unlike users within Spotify’s registered countries who either have to pay for a premium membership or put up with advertisements every 15 minutes or so.

The move comes immediately after the company announced the mobile applications of Spotify for the iPhone and Android. Access to the mobile applications is only available to premium subscribers and it is therefore highly likely the company saw a steep rise in subscribers.

Spotify is currently available in six countries: Sweden, Norway, Finland, Spain, France and the UK with plans to launch in the US before the end of the year.

The full email sent to a number of users is posted below:

Dear Spotify user,

We’re writing to you in regards to your Spotify account which up until now you’ve been using free of charge. While we are really happy that you are enthusiastically using Spotify, we are unfortunately going to have to restrict access to your free account.

Spotify is currently available in six countries: Sweden, Norway, Finland, Spain, France and the UK. We never intended to allow use of our service outside of those countries and we do not run any adverts on your account like we do in the launch countries.

For this reason we have to restrict your account, you will be able to log in to Spotify and view music and playlists but not listen to any music.

We are sorry that we have to take this step. We do hope to launch our free service in more countries in the future.

If you have any questions regarding this please feel free to contact our support team. (support@spotify.com)

Regards,
The Spotify team.

Via Pat Phelan’s and Jonathan Grimes Posterous.