Spotify, the popular European music service, finally launched in the U.S. Thursday delivering on-demand access to 15 million songs for free (with an invite, which you may request here).
As CNET describes; “ Spotify relies heavily upon playlists, which users can create as soon as they boot it up. Users can search through the company’s tracks and simply drag-and-drop songs to a respective list. The service also allows folks to import MP3s to bolster the music player’s offering. Once the playlists are created, they can be accessed from anywhere a user loads Spotify.”
Spotify has more than 10 million registered users and more than 1.6 million paying subscribers in Europe. It claims to be the fastest service of its kind, but it remains to be seen if Spotify can muscle in on Pandora’s turf in the U.S. Pandora claims 100 million users.
You can expect to see and hear a lot about Spotify soon. It announced that its “launch partners” such as Coca-Cola and Sprite, Chevrolet, Motorola, Reebok, Sonos and The Daily, will run “innovative campaigns” in partnership with Spotify in the coming weeks and months.
It will be interesting to see what Chevrolet will offer.
Here are Spotify’s “freemium” plans:
• Spotify Free – With an invite, enjoy on-demand, buffer-free access to over 15 million songs on your computer, great social features, manage your own music files through Spotify, and sync with your cellphone or iPod. Features occasional advertising.
• Spotify Unlimited – all the special features of our free service but with uninterrupted, ad-free access to Spotify on your computer for $4.99 a month.
• Spotify Premium – the all-singing, all-dancing, top-of-the-range Spotify experience. Premium gives you access to all the music, all the time. Listen online or offline, on your computer, your cellphone and a whole heap of other devices. Enjoy enhanced sound quality and access to exclusive content, competitions and special offers. Premium costs $9.99 a month.
Source: Spotify, CNET
