Spotify has been developed since 2006 by a team at Spotify AB, Stockholm, Sweden. The company was founded there by Daniel Ek, former CTO of Stardoll, and Martin Lorentzon, co-founder of TradeDoubler. The headquarters are now located in London, while research and development remains based in Stockholm. The Spotify application was launched for public access on 7 October 2008. While free accounts still remained available by invitation only in order to manage the growth rate of the service, the launch meant that paid subscriptions were opened to everyone. At the same time, Spotify AB also announced licensing deals with many major music labels. The company reported a $4.4 million loss for the year of 2008. The first step towards offering free accounts to the public without an invitation was taken on 10 February 2009, when Spotify opened for free registration in the UK. Due to a surge in registrations following the release of the Spotify mobile service, Spotify closed its open registrations in the UK on 11 September 2009. As of 2011, the free service is invitation-only, although it was possible to bypass the invitation system for several months by opening the registration page directly. This loophole was closed and the registration page required an invitation code. Subscriptions were available to be purchased in this period without an invitation.