Music service Spotify hooks up with Ford in first vehicle foray

Daniel Ek, CEO & Co-Founder of Spotify, addresses attendees during the International CTIA WIRELESS Conference & Exposition in New Orleans, Louisiana May 9, 2012.

(Reuters) - Streaming music service Spotify has partnered with Ford Motor Co (F.N) to allow its subscribers to listen to music in more than one million Ford vehicles in North America.

Owners of Ford models with SYNC AppLink can access Spotify's catalog of more than 20 million songs through voice activation using its smartphone app.

The deal, announced by both companies on Monday, is Spotify's first collaboration with an automaker.

Spotify is a free on-demand streaming music service that also offers a subscription package that allows listeners to hear music without interruptions from commercials and gain access to play lists and preferences from any device anytime.

Spotify says it has 20 million active users worldwide, with 25 percent of them paying for subscriptions.

Music services like Spotify and Pandora Media Inc (P.N) are striking partnerships with automakers to make their music available to drivers, especially as Internet access improves in vehicles.

Pandora is available in 75 vehicle models and has deals with automakers like General Motors Co (GM.N), Ford, BMW (BMWG.DE) and Chrysler Group LLC (FIA.MI), allowing drivers to plug in their Pandora-enabled mobile devices and use car dashboards to control the service.

More than 1 million people have used Pandora's dashboard integration, it said.

Separately on Monday, GM said it was switching to AT&T Inc (T.N) from Verizon Wireless (VZ.N)(VOD.L) to provide high-speed wireless service for its 2015 vehicle models.

(Reporting by Jennifer Saba in New York; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)