With or without Taylor Swift songs on its catalog, still, Spotify can stand on its own, becoming so far the biggest music-streaming service with 15 million paying subscribers, although the figure only represents 25 percent of all its active users.

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Spotify's users totaled to over 60 million, the Stockholm-based company's website revealed, an increase by 10 million compared to figures November's 50 million users.

The company's services comes in free ad-supported computer service and a US$9.99 monthly, ad-free plan. The total number of subscribers has increased, although the paid to non-paid user proportion has remained steady at 25 percent, the company's spokesman Graham James told over a phone interview.

It's worth remembering that in December, Spotify unveiled an aggressive discount offer, giving people three months worth of access to its premium, ad free product for just US99¢. A spokesperson told Quartz via email that the offer helped, but that most of the growth was organic.

Spotify's growth defies the speculation that record labels, themselves part owners in the business, are planning to drop its free service, which compared to other ad-supported streaming services, enables on-demand listening.

This growth comes in no better time than now as Apple is planning to integrate its Beats streaming service into iTunes giving its millions of music customers the chance to become music subscribers.

Spotify, which started operating in the U.S. in 2011, boasts of having one of the biggest market for music streaming. The company trails its competitors, including Deezer, a Paris-based streaming service, which only has six million paying subscribers out of its 16 million active users.

TagsSpotify, Daniel Ek, taylor swift