Mobile the key to Spotify's 5x revenue growth claims Analysys Mason

That's based on an estimate of $78m revenues for 2010 for the streaming music service.

The company thinks that the streaming music service saw its revenues increase fivefold last year, as it increased its proportion of paying subscribers from 3.6% to 9%.

The key? Mobile, at least according to Analysys Mason. "We believe that mobility has been the key to driving take-up of premium upgrades within Spotifyís ëfreemiumí revenue model, and that other companies may be able to learn from Spotifyís example," says principal analyst Martin Scott.

"The most significant inflection point in the take-up of Spotifyís premium services was the introduction of support for iOS and Android-based handsets in September 2009."

Spotify tends to stress that mobile apps aren't the only factor in its growth in paying subscribers, though. The company thinks that its free service is an essential ingredient in persuading people to pay for Spotify Premium, in contrast to the limited one-week trials offered by similar services in the US.

Analysys Mason thinks non-music services like LinkedIn and Evernote could take tips from Spotify in persuading more of their own users to pay up.