Spotify is coming to America -finally- and has high hopes for being the next big music thing. With an application that seems to work by magic, replacing iTunes and giving access to over 6 million tracks on demand, Spotify has already spent its' first months out of beta as the most successful music sharing platform in Europe. Because of its near perfect simplicity and easy- to- navigate pricing structure, the company could soon be a viable threat to just about every other music service, from iTunes to imeem to Rhapsody.
In order to reach such heights, Spotify needs to ensure it doesn't become the next Napster — and to do that, it needs to extend its music licensing deals to America, because unlike other startups, Spotify has always paid for its' music. The surprise powerhouse has one big advantage: Unlike the breakthrough P2P service the music industry put an end to in 2002, the labels actually want Spotify to succeed, something that has been unheard of.
Spotify plans to have its music licensing all squared away for a third- or fourth-quarter stateside launch, and the key will be the business model. The model planned will make significant money for the music industry without disenfranchising users, and if it delivers, a new era of music sharing could be ushered in.
Spotify’s ultimate goal- to get people to pay a small monthly fee for access to millions of songs- is an achievement that has mostly eluded Rhapsody, Napster, Virgin, Microsoft and all the other heavy hitters. Based on what we’ve seen and Ek’s clear vision for the future of the company however, it's well within the realm of possibility that Spotify will succeed where those other services failed. Courtesy of wired.com
