Latest: Spotify Ditches Its 5 Play Limit For Spotify Free Users In The UK

[busybeeburns]

 

Spotify will launch in the US by the autumn, according to reports.

 

Newswire Bloomberg claims the music-streaming service is gearing up for a third-quarter launch in the States. “We’re buying server space in random parts of the States and there are licensing discussions too," Spotify’s senior vice president Paul Brown said in an interview with Bloomberg. “But they are going fine because we’re in a long-term partnership with the labels and publishers.”

 

Spotify is also in discussions to release its mobile software on Blackberry and Palm smartphones, Brown said. The service is already on Android, Symbian and the iPhone.

 

Indeed, the iPhone app has just been updated with the ability to automatically synchronise songs on the iPhone to a Spotify playlist and a scrobbling service, similar to Last.fm. This will store information on tracks that have been played, helping the service to recommend music.

 

The iPhone app is also introducing support for 96Kbits/sec files to cater for slower connections.

 

Earlier this month, CEO Daniel Ek said Spotify now had more than 300,000 paying users.

 

http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/356806/spotify-to-launch-in-us-by-autumn

[busybeeburns]

Spotify will launch in US this year, confirms Ek

 

 

Spotify will definitely launch in the US this year and there will be a free element to the service, Daniel Ek, Spotify’s CEO, has said.

 

Speaking at the South by Southwest conference in Austin, Texas, Ek said that “there could be slight changes” in Spotify’s model in the US. However, in an interview with the Telegraph after his keynote, Ek said the free element would be “pretty much” the same in the US as it is in Britain.

 

He said: “What I mean by ‘pretty much’ is that I think you’re going to find the next version of Spotify will alter the way that people consume the product in terms of sharing, discovery and music management.”

 

Ek declined to go into more detail of the next version of the Spotify application, which he said the company has been developing for more than six months. However, he added: “At Spotify we believe in the free experience.”

 

Ek dismissed comments by David Hyman, chief executive of US rival MOG, who said that labels in the US would not support a free music model and nor would free music models be supported outside the US once existing deals expire.

 

Ek said: “You’ve got to look at it from the perspective of what we’ve accomplished already. We’re the biggest subscription service in Europe. Our partners are very pleased with the way we’re progressing in Europe and they’re going to continue to support us.”

 

He added: “It is a model that works in Europe and it’s a model that will definitely work in the US as well.”

 

Ek said that Spotify now has seven million users in the six European countries in which it has launched and that 320,000 of those are subscribers. Spotify subscribers get an ad-free service, higher quality audio streams and access to a mobile application, among other benefits.

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/sxsw/7463979/Spotify-will-launch-in-US-this-year-confirms-Ek.html

[MrMagpie]

Canada please?

[iboware]

They don't support windows phones. I think last.fm is still better altough we don't have option to choose playing song.

[noonsun]

Yaey!

[Crests]

Canada please?

 

This.

[fietssleutel]

Yay for US people, but I'd like to use my Spotify again as well. It stopped working months ago and I kinda miss it. :sad:

 

plus, I'm running out of space to store my music ^^"

[Coldplaying@Hogwarts]

Wait, why is this related to Coldplay? I'm confused.

[EmmaLouiseSmyth]

it's isn't.

 

 

 

This is the world of music section. :nice:

[Julie]

Wait, why is this related to Coldplay? I'm confused.

 

lolwut

 

It's about time, yay!

[MrMagpie]

Wait, why is this related to Coldplay? I'm confused.

 

1 500+ posts in and you have yet to realize that we talk about bands other than Coldplay? Get your head out of your ass and listen to something different sometime! :glasses2:

[busybeeburns]

 

Spotify signs up 1m paying subscribers ahead of US debut

 

Spotify, the music streaming service, has signed up its one millionth paying subscriber in Europe.

 

The milestone is an important announcement as the service is understood to be in the process of raising $100 million fresh investment, which not only gives the Swedish company a valuation of $1 billion, but should give it enough capital to finally launch in the US.

 

Daniel Ek, Spotify’s chief executive said: “Growing to over 1 million paying subscribers is an awesome milestone for us and we're humbled to see how popular Spotify has become over the past two years. More than ever, we're seeing the power of our ‘freemium’ model, with the vast majority of subscribers upgrading after having first used the free service and the ratio of paying subscribers to active free users now 15%. We're excited about what's in store for this year and will keep working away to make Spotify the best music service possible."

 

The one million subscribers represents 15 per cent of Spotify’s active users, which total up to 6.67 million across the UK, Spain, France, Germany, Sweden, Finland and Norway.

 

The company has been promising to launch in the US for the best part of two years, but has so far been prevented by the huge cash demands from the US music labels.

 

Ek added: “'It seems like only yesterday we were hatching ideas for a new music service in a tiny office-cum-apartment with a broken coffee machine, and the party we threw having reached one million users almost two years ago today was one to remember.

 

So it’s with a sense of real pride and excitement that we can announce a new milestone today, having welcomed our millionth paying subscriber to the service. It’s a testament to our fantastic users who continue to support us and spread the Spotify word, either by telling friends or sharing some of the 200 million playlists that you’ve put together so far.”

 

The service, which offers two tiers of subscription, as well as a free service interspersed with adverts, depends upon growing its subscription revenues for profitability. The subscriptions allow people to turn the adverts off and access their music on the move.

 

In 2009, Spotify lost £16.6 million in the UK, with a turnover of £11.3 million.

 

The company faces a potentially huge hurdle if Apple enforces its new subscription service fee onto the music service. According to Ben Drury, the chief executive of 7digital, an online music retailer, Spotify risks having its whole business model derailed by the new levy.

 

He said: “If Apple forces this change on to Spotify, it would become loss-making as it and other digital music subscription services, cannot afford to pay Apple 30 per cent of their revenues. The big question is whether Apple will actually force this through… As it stands, if Apple does force this upon services like Spotify, it makes it impossible for subscription music services to stay on the Apple platform.”

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/news/8367955/Spotify-signs-up-1m-paying-subscribers-ahead-of-US-debutm.html

[MrMagpie]

My friend who is an artist said Spotify doesn't pay artists which is sort of shitty. I would be willing to pay more money to subscribe if I new artists were getting money out of it.

[the_gloaming09]

it's about time we got Spotify

[Megalomania]

What exactly is Spotify? :thinking:

 

/stupid question

[the_gloaming09]

It's an online site that you can listen to as many songs as you like by only paying a monthly amount. It's like Rhapsody.

[Megalomania]

Oh, okay. Thanks. :wacko:

[hotdensestate]

YUSSS

[busybeeburns]

 

Spotify hires Domino digital man for US team

 

According to paidContent, Spotify have hired Steve Savoca, a longtime digital chief at Domino Records, to be its Head Of Content in the US. When Savoca announced his departure from Domino on Facebook, writing “Goodnight Domino Records, you will be missed…”, some feared there were problems at the label itself. He subsequently clarified that all was well at Domino, but that he had “moved on to a new opportunity”.

 

Spotify is known to have been building its US team for a few weeks now as it gets ready for its much delayed launch Stateside. As previously reported, it is thought Spotify may have deals more or less in place to launch in the US with three of the majors, and could therefore launch this summer.

 

http://www.thecmuwebsite.com/article/spotify-hires-domino-digital-man-for-us-team/

[ivet]

yay??????????

i thought this shit was free

i'm outta hurr

[busybeeburns]

 

Spotify to cut free music allowance by 50 percent

 

Spotify has announced it will be cutting the amount of free music users can access without paying.

 

Previously, users had been able to listen to up to 20 hours a month worth of free music. But, in changes announced on Spotify.com/uk/blog, the site plans to cut this significantly.

 

From May 1, users who are not paid subscribers will now be only able to listen to 10 hours a month of free music, with a limit of five plays per track also coming into force.

 

These changes only affect users who signed up to the site more than six months ago. New subscribers will be able to use Spotify in its current form, but only for six months.

 

Spotify founder Daniel Elk said of the changes: "It's vital that we continue offering an on-demand free service to you and millions more like you, but to make that possible we have to put some limits in place going forward."

 

http://www.nme.com/news/various-artists/56109

[Prince Myshkin]

S'all bullshit.

 

Just glad I had a Swedish connection when it first came around (it was born in Sweden) so I got a free invite which means I have no limits and just have to deal with the adverts.

[hotdensestate]

I guess I'll never actually use Spotify and keep downloading almost everything exclusively illegally?

[iPsy]

It's rubbish now anyway! Loads of record labels are removing their artists from Spotify, and the prices are getting ridiculous, free music is being cut...

[busybeeburns]

I guess I'll never actually use Spotify and keep downloading almost everything exclusively illegally?

yep, back to square one!