Spotify

General
April 26, 2012
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Spotify reportedly prepping Pandora competitor

By on April 26, 2012 at 8:15 PM.

Spotify reportedly prepping Pandora competitor

Web-based streaming music provider Spotify is reportedly preparing to launch a new service that will add new radio and content discovery elements to its portfolio. Citing multiple unnamed sources, Bloomberg on Thursday reported that Spotify is developing a new online radio service that will compete directly with Pandora. Due to launch by the end of this year, the ad-supported service will allow users to stream unlimited music through Spotify’s software, and the service may launch with new music content that is not currently available to Spotify customers. It is unclear exactly how the new offering will differ from Spotify Radio, which was unveiled late last year as an artist-based streaming radio service available for free to all Spotify users. The company’s current core product allows Spotify’s 10 million users to stream music from its online catalog in an iTunes-like player that also allows subscribers to search for content, create playlists and share content with friends. More →

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mobile
April 17, 2012
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Pebble smartwatch raises a record $3.6 million through Kickstarter [video]

By on April 17, 2012 at 3:30 PM.

Pebble smartwatch raises a record $3.6 million through Kickstarter [video]

Kickstarter is filled with some brilliant, some not-so-brilliant and some very strange ideas, and if user interest is any indication, the Pebble ePaper smartwatch can likely be filed under brilliant. Allerta, the company behind the product, opened a Kickstarter page less than a week ago and has already become the most funded project of all time on the site, which allows users to make small and large donations toward projects they want to back. The company’s initial goal was to raise $100,000, however in the past six days the project has accumulated a whopping $3.6 million in funding. Read on for more. More →

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Tablets
April 16, 2012
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Image of Spotify’s official iPad app leaks, launch is ‘getting closer’

By on April 16, 2012 at 10:25 PM.

Image of Spotify’s official iPad app leaks, launch is ‘getting closer’

While Spotify offers a native iPhone app, the company still doesn’t offer one for Apple’s iPad. According to a photo recently published to the web, however, that may soon change. A Swedish technology consultant posted the first image of what is said to be a beta version of Spotify’s official iPad app. The image was posted on Instagram and it featured the caption, “It’s getting closer!” The image has since been removed, but not before it began to spread across various tech blogs. Spotify on Friday sent out press invitations for a special announcement event in New York City. Could the event be for an iPad app? Perhaps, although a press conference dedicated solely to an app seems unlikely. Earlier reports indicated that the music streaming company may announce brand partnerships that will allow app and playlist recommendations from companies in an effort to make the platform more attractive to advertisers. More →

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Internet
April 13, 2012
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Spotify to make a ‘special announcement’ on April 18th

By on April 13, 2012 at 2:15 PM.

Spotify to make a ‘special announcement’ on April 18th

Spotify on Friday sent out press invites for a special announcement in New York City on April 18th. It’s not entirely clear what the event might cover, although recent reports have indicated the music streaming service may allow app and playlist recommendations from various brands in an effort to make the platform more attractive to advertisers. The company previously held a press event in November to announce its embedded applications platform.

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General
April 4, 2012
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Spotify reportedly not living up to hype in U.S.

By on April 4, 2012 at 3:50 PM.

Spotify reportedly not living up to hype in U.S.

Spotify is the darling of tech blogs, but the overwhelming media hype leading up to the service’s U.S. launch has seemingly not carried over to end users. According to a recent report from the New York Post, paid subscriber growth in the U.S. has failed to meet expectations thus far. Spotify launched stateside roughly nine months ago and the service amassed 250,000 paid subscribers in its first three months. According to the Post, Spotify is now home to 3 million users in the U.S., but only 600,000 are paying either $4.99 or $9.99 per month for premium service while the remaining 80% enjoy free basic service. “People aren’t 100 percent happy,” the Post’s source said, noting that Spotify plans to remove the limit of five plays per month on individual songs for free subscribers in an effort to bolster user loyalty.

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Software
March 30, 2012
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Flutter app brings Kinect-like gesture controls to iTunes, Spotify [video]

By on March 30, 2012 at 5:35 PM.

Flutter app brings Kinect-like gesture controls to iTunes, Spotify [video]

Microsoft’s wildly popular Kinect controller for the Xbox 360 brought motion-based controls to the masses when it launched in late 2010. While similar technology will be built into a variety of consumer electronics moving forward — especially HDTVs — Mac users now have access to a free app that will add gesture controls to their current OS X computers. Currently compatible with just two programs, iTunes and Spotify, the Flutter app for Mac allows users to control music and video playback by making hand gestures that are recorded and relayed by the PC’s built-in iSight camera. The app is an early alpha build, yet we found that it performs as described and it worked well even from a few feet away. Flutter is not yet available in the Mac App Store, but it can be downloaded for free directly from the company’s website. A video showcasing the app follows below. More →

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Internet
March 27, 2012
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Digital music sales grew 8% in 2011, now total 31% of industry revenue

By on March 27, 2012 at 8:50 PM.

Digital music sales grew 8% in 2011, now total 31% of industry revenue

The past year was a good year for the music industry as sales rose to their best highest point in eight years. According to the IFPI’s annual Recording Industry In Numbers report, revenue from physical media fell by 8.7%, compared with 13.8% in 2010, but were vinyl sales up nearly 29%. Digital revenue continued to grow, increasing 8%, compared to 5.6% in 2010, with digital track sales growing 19% to 3.7 billion songs. Australia leads the way in the digital space with 60% growth, compared with 8% growth in the U.S. and 10% in the U.K. $1.27 billion in digital singles were sold in the U.S., while the U.K. accounted for $176.2 million. Digital sales made up 31% of the total revenue of the music market and reached $5.3 billion in sales. Overall global music revenue fell by just 3% in the last year, however. “2011 marked the least negative result in global recorded music sales since 2004, when revenues were flat,” the report read. The IFPI credits services like Spotify, iTunes, and unlimited-access operators like Rdio, MOG and Rhapsody for bringing new revenue models to customers that have helped the U.S. music market. More →

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Business
January 26, 2012
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Spotify surpasses 3 million paid subscribers

By on January 26, 2012 at 6:30 PM.

Spotify surpasses 3 million paid subscribers

Spotify said Thursday that it now serves more than 3 million active paid subscribers per month, up from the 2.5 million subscribers it was serving in November. More than 20% of its active users pay for premium monthly access, the Financial Times said, which allows users to listen to an unlimited songs without ads or use Spotify on a smartphone. “We have achieved some pretty great results in terms of the ratio of paid users,” Spotify’s chief content officer and US managing director, Ken Parks said in an interview with the Financial Times. “We have an enormous internal effort to drive conversion and engagement with the service. We are very focused on growing in our existing 12 markets as well as expanding in other markets.” Parks also said that the company’s free-trial offer has helped convert users to paid accounts more rapidly. Spotify recently introduced “apps” for its service, which allows anyone, such as Rolling Stone or Billboard, to create playlists or add custom features. More →

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mobile
December 21, 2011
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Spotify for BlackBerry now available… with a catch

By on December 21, 2011 at 10:30 PM.

Spotify for BlackBerry now available… with a catch

Spotify announced on Wednesday that its BlackBerry client is now out of beta and officially available for download. Spotify is a free ad-supported desktop music service that allows its users to listen to any song they want, provided it has been licensed by Spotify. Users who want to take advantage of the service’s mobile features, which include offline caching and access to the full Spotify library, must pay a $10 monthly subscription fee. We’re fans of Spotify here at BGR so we highly recommend BlackBerry users give it a try. The download is free (remember, you’ll need a monthly plan to use it, though) and accessible from the BlackBerry App World now. The catch? You’ll need to own one of five BlackBerry models (BlackBerry Bold 9780, Bold 9700, Curve 9300, Bold 9000 or Curve 8520) in order to use the app, which means it looks like CDMA users are being left out in the cold for now.

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Services
December 9, 2011
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Spotify takes on Pandora with Spotify Radio

By on December 9, 2011 at 7:15 AM.

Spotify takes on Pandora with Spotify Radio

Spotify on Friday unveiled Spotify Radio, a new service similar to Pandora that will roll out as an extension to the company’s desktop client. The service allows users to create artist-based stations that will stream an unlimited amount of music similar to the artist selected. Spotify Radio users can also skip an unlimited number of songs and save tracks as they play for on-demand listening later as well. The app and associated service are a welcome addition to Spotify, which has had very limited discovery features until now. The free Spotify Radio app is currently available as a preview and it is expected to land in Spotify’s app catalog within the next few days. Spotify has not indicated whether or not its new radio service will make its way to the company’s mobile apps. More →

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Software
November 30, 2011
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Hands on with Spotify’s brand new app platform [video]

By on November 30, 2011 at 2:50 PM.

Hands on with Spotify’s brand new app platform [video]

Spotify’s New York City press conference just wrapped up and we spent some time checking out several of the popular music service’s new apps. There’s a new section on the left sidebar that lets you quickly access applications from LastFM, Rolling Stone, The Guardian and more. Rolling Stone and other publications will release playlists, some as frequently as each day, with bands the publications think Spotify users should take note of. The applications are seamless and are so tightly integrated with Spotify that they launch almost immediately. If you’re playing a song with tunewiki for example, simply tap the tunewiki application on the left sidebar and it immediately begins displaying song lyrics inside the software. We’re fans of Spotify here at BGR and we’re definitely looking forward to checking these features out a bit more when the app service officially goes live. Apps will be accessible to all users, whether they subscribe to Spotify’s premium services or not, and the beta should be made available today on Spotify’s website around 2:00 p.m. EST. Be sure to check out our full gallery below, and hit the break for a video from Spotify.

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Breaking
November 30, 2011
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Spotify officially announces apps, opens platform to developers

By on November 30, 2011 at 12:32 PM.

Spotify officially announces apps, opens platform to developers

We’re live from Spotify’s New York City press conference where CEO and founder Daniel Ek took the stage to announce several new Spotify features, most notably applications. Ek confirmed that Spotify will launch a “truly integrated” application platform inside Spotify that will be “tailored to you and your user tastes.” Third party developers can easily build HTML5 apps using a simple API. The first generation of applications will be featured within the “Spotify platform.” Read on for more. More →

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Services
November 24, 2011
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Spotify passes 2.5 million paid subscribers

By on November 24, 2011 at 8:15 AM.

Spotify passes 2.5 million paid subscribers

Spotify on Wednesday announced that it now has 2.5 million subscribers around the world paying for its service. The company has roughly 10 million paid and free listeners combined. Spotify’s recent launch in the U.S. is seen as having been a big boost for the company, and its Facebook integration is said to have bolstered new subscriptions as well. The company offers an on-demand music service that allows users to stream to unlimited ad-supported music to computers for free. Ads can be eliminated for a $4.99 monthly fee, and Spotify can be streamed to mobile devices as well for an addition $5 each month. More →

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