Spotify

= Spotify =

toc Spotify is a music service that supports listening, searching, and sharing. Founded in 2006, it offers streaming online access to over 15 million tracks. Available to users in ten countries, Spotify first became available in the United States on July 14, 2011, and is rumored to be released soon in Belgium, Austria, and Switzerland. The company profits by selling "air time" for the advertising heard between songs by users with free accounts. Free membership lets anyone listen to music and save playlists, while premium members can also listen ad-free, save playlists offline, and stream music on mobile devices. Spotify is greatly integrated with social media, and in September 2011 began requiring all new users to register through their Facebook accounts. It remains to be seen whether Spotify will become the first profitable music streaming service.



How It's Used
Spotify’s free desktop application, available for all major operating systems, is where all users access streaming audio. A keyword search brings up instant results, and artist biographies, written by All Music Guide, are provided with each track. Spotify supports music discovery by displaying related artists, offering artist-based radio stations, and indicating each track’s popularity with other users. Users can send tracks or playlists to others, and your saved playlists are available from any computer with Spotify installed: just log into your account. If desired, listening activity can be posted automatically to one’s Facebook account, or shared on Twitter.

Spotify in its purest form. ||~ [|Spotify Unlimited] No time limits, no ads. ||~ [|Spotify Free] The best music player in the world. ||
 * ~  ||~ [|Spotify Premium]
 * < Price ||= $9.99 per month ||= $4.99 per month ||= Free ||
 * < Millions of tracks available instantly ||= [[image:http://cf.scdn.co/i/wp/comparebox_marks_yes.gif width="17" height="20"]] ||= [[image:http://cf.scdn.co/i/wp/comparebox_marks_yes.gif width="17" height="20"]] ||= [[image:http://cf.scdn.co/i/wp/comparebox_marks_yes.gif width="17" height="20"]] ||
 * < [|Play and organise your own MP3s] ||= [[image:http://cf.scdn.co/i/wp/comparebox_marks_yes.gif width="17" height="20"]] ||= [[image:http://cf.scdn.co/i/wp/comparebox_marks_yes.gif width="17" height="20"]] ||= [[image:http://cf.scdn.co/i/wp/comparebox_marks_yes.gif width="17" height="20"]] ||
 * < [|Spotify social] ||= [[image:http://cf.scdn.co/i/wp/comparebox_marks_yes.gif width="17" height="20"]] ||= [[image:http://cf.scdn.co/i/wp/comparebox_marks_yes.gif width="17" height="20"]] ||= [[image:http://cf.scdn.co/i/wp/comparebox_marks_yes.gif width="17" height="20"]] ||
 * < [|Take your music abroad] ||= [[image:http://cf.scdn.co/i/wp/comparebox_marks_yes.gif width="17" height="20"]] ||= [[image:http://cf.scdn.co/i/wp/comparebox_marks_yes.gif width="17" height="20"]] ||= 14 days ||
 * < [|Artist radio] ||= [[image:http://cf.scdn.co/i/wp/comparebox_marks_yes.gif width="17" height="20"]] ||= [[image:http://cf.scdn.co/i/wp/comparebox_marks_yes.gif width="17" height="20"]] ||= [[image:http://cf.scdn.co/i/wp/comparebox_marks_yes.gif width="13" height="16"]] ||
 * < No advertising ||= [[image:http://cf.scdn.co/i/wp/comparebox_marks_yes.gif width="17" height="20"]] ||= [[image:http://cf.scdn.co/i/wp/comparebox_marks_yes.gif width="17" height="20"]] ||= [[image:http://cf.scdn.co/i/wp/comparebox_marks_no.gif width="13" height="16"]] ||
 * < [|Play local files on your mobile] ||= [[image:http://cf.scdn.co/i/wp/comparebox_marks_yes.gif width="17" height="20"]] ||= [[image:http://cf.scdn.co/i/wp/comparebox_marks_no.gif]] ||= [[image:http://cf.scdn.co/i/wp/comparebox_marks_no.gif width="13" height="16"]] ||
 * < [|Play music from Spotify on your mobile] ||= [[image:http://cf.scdn.co/i/wp/comparebox_marks_yes.gif width="17" height="20"]] ||= [[image:http://cf.scdn.co/i/wp/comparebox_marks_no.gif width="13" height="16"]] ||= [[image:http://cf.scdn.co/i/wp/comparebox_marks_no.gif width="13" height="16"]] ||
 * < [|Offline mode on your desktop] ||= [[image:http://cf.scdn.co/i/wp/comparebox_marks_yes.gif width="17" height="20"]] ||= [[image:http://cf.scdn.co/i/wp/comparebox_marks_no.gif width="13" height="16"]] ||= [[image:http://cf.scdn.co/i/wp/comparebox_marks_no.gif width="13" height="16"]] ||
 * < [|Offline mode on your mobile] ||= [[image:http://cf.scdn.co/i/wp/comparebox_marks_yes.gif width="17" height="20"]] ||= [[image:http://cf.scdn.co/i/wp/comparebox_marks_no.gif width="13" height="16"]] ||= [[image:http://cf.scdn.co/i/wp/comparebox_marks_no.gif width="13" height="16"]] ||
 * < Enhanced sound quality ||= [[image:http://cf.scdn.co/i/wp/comparebox_marks_yes.gif width="17" height="20"]] ||= [[image:http://cf.scdn.co/i/wp/comparebox_marks_no.gif width="13" height="16"]] ||= [[image:http://cf.scdn.co/i/wp/comparebox_marks_no.gif width="13" height="16"]] ||
 * < Exclusive content ||= [[image:http://cf.scdn.co/i/wp/comparebox_marks_yes.gif width="17" height="20"]] ||= [[image:http://cf.scdn.co/i/wp/comparebox_marks_no.gif width="13" height="16"]] ||= [[image:http://cf.scdn.co/i/wp/comparebox_marks_no.gif width="13" height="16"]] ||
 * < [|Play Spotify through music systems] ||= [[image:http://cf.scdn.co/i/wp/comparebox_marks_yes.gif width="17" height="20"]] ||= [[image:http://cf.scdn.co/i/wp/comparebox_marks_no.gif width="13" height="16"]] ||= [[image:http://cf.scdn.co/i/wp/comparebox_marks_no.gif width="13" height="16"]] ||

Popularity
As a legal alternative to music piracy, Spotify has gained wide popularity among music lovers. Unlike popular streaming online radio Pandora, Spotify allows users to select specific songs they want to hear. It is similar to the Grooveshark streaming music service, with the important distinction that Spotify obtains the proper licenses for all their content. Spotify's large fan base has contributed many third party tools to make Spotify more powerful. Plug-ins exist that can add advanced search features to Spotify and otherwise aid music discovery. An iPhone app lets you use your phone as a remote for Spotify. There are also several sites focused on generating and sharing Spotify playlists.

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Controversy
Since Spotify's rise in popularity, several artists and record labels have pulled some or all of their material from Spotify's catalog. Spotify pays artists each time one of their songs is played, but their ability to accurately calculate the totals has come under question. The compensation rate per song has also been criticized as too low, which particularly impacts independent artists. Too much availability on Spotify may also translate to less sales on iTunes, Amazon, and other more profitable services.

**References**
Spotify: Features. (2011). Retrieved from [|http://www.spotify.com/us/about/features] Sandoval, G. (2011, October 31). Coldplay snub sounds alarm for streaming music. Retrieved from http://news.cnet.com/8301-31001_3-20127921-261/coldplay-snub-sounds-alarm-for-streaming-music/

Titlow, J. (2011, October 13).//Spotify’s paying U.S. users have grown by 42% since August (but it's still losing money)//. Retrieved from [|http://] [|www.readwriteweb.com/archives/spotify_users_grow_still_losing_money.php]