Streaming music service Deezer says it will IPO

Music streaming service Deezer plans to carry out a flotation on the Paris stock exchange by the end of the year, it said on Tuesday, in a bid to keep up with larger, deeper-pocketed rivals such as Apple and Sweden’s Spotify. Planned to take place at the end of the year, the company isn’t disclosing how much it hopes to raise or its expected valuation.

Deezer said revenue grew 53% past year to €142m.

The company now has 6.3 million paying subscribers, with majority being situated outside of the US : The company initially launched everywhere but in the States, and then made some limited inroads with more focused music subscription packages targeting audiophiles and owners of certain internet-connected loudspeakers.

“Going public is an important milestone for Deezer and the music industry at large”, Hans-Holger Albrecht, the chief executive, said in a statement. By contrast, Spotify has about 20 million paid subscribers. “The music streaming market is young and growing fast as it becomes the primary distribution channel for music”.

(NASDAQ:AAPL) Music, it is clear that the competition in the music streaming industry is rapidly expanding. The company indicated that our of its 6 million ‘subscribers, ‘ 3.7 million brought in 92 percent of the revenues.

Deezer’s biggest challenges will be competing with Spotify, with its huge lead in the United States, and Apple’s new Beats 1service.

An IPO information site has been set up by Deezer, featuring a message from Albrecht as well as further information about the company’s revenue and users. But the company still remained in the red, with a €9 million loss. Merhely controls 8 percent and major record labels Universal, EMI, Sony and Warner account for around 15 percent of the shares.

Deezer said that its current owners would not sell stock in the IPO.

BNP Paribas SA and Bank of America Merrill Lynch are managing the IPO with Citigroup Inc. and Societe Generale SA.