Spotify, the trendy music on demand service that has garnered tremendous media attention in Europe, has finally launched in the U.S. as rumored last week. Spotify announced earlier this month that it would become available in the U.S. “soon,” though open negotiations with Warner Music Group were reportedly preventing the company from setting a firm launch date. Apparently Warner finally came around. The Spotify service lets users stream unlimited music on demand, and also build and share playlists. For the time being, the free ad-supported version of Spotify that allows streaming to Windows and OS X PCs only is available as an invite-only service in the U.S. Those who don’t want to wait, however, can pay: a premium $9.99 per month subscription will let users stream ad-free music to mobile devices, share playlists and cache music for offline playback. A $4.99 intermediate plan will remove ads from the stream, but it doesn’t support streaming to the company’s mobile apps, which are already available for iOS devices in the App Store and for Android devices in the Android Market. A nifty little intro video can be seen below along with Spotify’s full press release.

Hello America. Spotify here.

Spotify, the largest and fastest growing music service of its kind, is available from today in the US. We’re massively excited to be here.

Spotify is a new way to manage your music, discover new tracks and share songs and playlists with your friends. Now you can enjoy music whenever and wherever you like.

More than 10 million Europeans can’t be wrong, surely?

OK, so they are wrong when it comes to spelling ‘favourite’ and ‘doughnut’. But they know a great music service when they see it.

Spotify was launched in Sweden in 2008 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon, out of a desire to develop a better, more convenient and legal alternative to music piracy. Spotify is now the second single largest source of digital music revenue for labels in Europe (IFPI, April 2011), making sure that artists get a fair deal.

Spotify has more than 10 million registered users and more than 1.6 million paying subscribers across 7 countries in Europe; the US marks the 8^th territory. With a ratio of well over 15% paying subscribers to active free users, Spotify is the largest and fastest growing service of its kind.

One lean, green, music machine

• Spotify gives you on-demand access (with no buffering) to a library of more than 15 million songs. What’s more, you can import the MP3s you already own with just one click, to create a mighty music player. And with Spotify, there’s no need to skip tracks you don’t like. Why? Because you choose the music in the first place.

• It’s super simple to create and manage all your playlists with Spotify – our users have made and shared over 250 million of them so far. You can also discover the most popular playlists on sites like www.sharemyplaylists.com and www.bbcify.com, or use clever sites like www.spotiseek.com to create playlists of new music based on your favorite artists.

• Music is made for sharing. Simply drag and drop music to your Spotify friends, or share with them via Facebook, Twitter, email and SMS. See your friends’ top tracks, artists and playlists via their Spotify profiles, subscribe to their playlists and drop tracks into their Spotify inbox. How very sociable.

• Take your music with you by installing Spotify on your cellphone or iPod Touch. Wirelessly sync your MP3 playlists to listen offline and subscribe to Spotify Premium to combine your own music with access to our catalogue of over 15 million tracks. It’s the perfect music player.

The Land of the Free, the Unlimited and the Premium

During our invite-only beta phase, Spotify offers three great services, from absolutely free to paid subscriptions. All of Spotify’s services include the features listed above.

• Spotify Free – the unsurpassed free music service. 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. All for only $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 just $9.99 a month (that’s the equivalent of a few fancy coffees).

Daniel Ek, Founder and CEO of Spotify, said: “We believe that music is the most social thing there is and that’s why we’ve built the best social features into Spotify for easy sharing and the ultimate in music discovery. Even if you aren’t a total music freak, chances are you have a friend who is and whose taste you admire. I’m looking forward to connecting with some of you in Spotify and discovering some cool new tracks.”

Spotify’s US launch is in partnership with some of the biggest and most pioneering brands in the world, who want to help us spread the word of Spotify in the USA. Our exclusive launch partners are Coca-Cola and Sprite, Chevrolet, Motorola, Reebok, Sonos and The Daily. These brands will all be launching innovative campaigns in partnership with Spotify in the coming weeks and months.

Ken Parks, Chief Content Officer and Managing Director of Spotify North America, said: “Spotify was founded as a better, simpler alternative to piracy. So making sure that the people who create the music prosper is hugely important to us. We have full catalogues from all the major labels and a raft of independent labels including those represented by Merlin, which means all of their artists are being fairly compensated for their creativity every time people enjoy music through Spotify.”

mSpot just took the wraps off of its new Radio Spotter Beta app for Android, which will allow users to listen to their own cloud-based music, as well as tunes from streaming radio stations. It works like this: you can match any song you’re playing from your own collection to a radio station to continue playing similar music, or you can select a specific radio station based on genre directly from the application itself. There’s even a new mSpot Music Android application with the built-in Radio Spotter support, so you can take your stations on the go, too. mSpot provides 5GB of space free to new users, but you can sign up for 40GB for $3.99 per month if you have a larger music collection. The company says an iPhone version of the application with Radio Spotter support will launch later this year. Hit the jump for the full release from mSpot.

The First Combined Streaming Radio and Cloud Music Service, Launches

mSpot Music™ Offers Radio Spotter™

-      Match the Songs You’re Playing to Hundreds of

Internet Radio Stations

New Service Offers Instant Access to Free Internet Radio Stations Based on Favorite Genres and Artists – Initially Available for Android

Palo Alto, Calif. (May 26, 2011)—Popular cloud entertainment provider mSpot, Inc., today announced Radio Spotter™ Beta – the first digital music service to combine a cloud music and storage locker service with streaming radio. The new service offers two main features: Match the songs you’re playing from your personal online music collections, to similar music playing on hundreds of radio stations across the Internet; or, instantly select Internet radio stations you’ll like, based on music genres or your own artist searches. Radio Spotter puts the metadata in your music collection to work by matching whatever you’re listening to, and quickly adapts to offer new recommendations based on your changing preferences.

“Radio is still the easiest and most popular music discovery tool – people love its spontaneity and variety. Yet, it can take years to discover the best radio stations. We’re giving people a mash up between Cloud music and streaming radio:  It’s a great way for people to find new music and enjoy their own – all in one service,” stated Daren Tsui, CEO and co-founder of mSpot.

How does Radio Spotter work?

• Put your music collection on the Internet: Go to www.mSpot.com and upload your music collection from your PC/Mac^® into your own personal music locker in the Cloud. Now, you can access it anytime, anywhere from your Android or any PC/Mac.
• Download the mSpot Music Android App on your phone. Your music will appear on your phone.
• As you listen to your music on mSpot Music, the service will match the songs and artists you’re playing with similar music on hundreds of Internet radio stations. These stations will be available in the “Stations Suggestions” tab. The service keeps track of what you’re listening to and gives you new recommendations as the music you’re listening to changes.
• Favorite stations can be saved for easy reference on the app homepage.
• New songs can be flagged for future reference and automatically synced to their online accounts at www.mspot.com for later purchase, through Amazon or iTunes music stores.
• The “Browse Stations” tab offers an instant selection of Internet radio stations, which are always available through the service without matching songs to your own music collection. You can also search by favorite artists to find radio stations playing music by that artist, or similar artists.
  • Genres range from Alterative and Rock to Dance and Electronic, Pop, Urban, Country, Reggae, Latin, Jazz, Spiritual, 70’s, 80’s, 90’s, Youth, Bollywood, French and Canadian.

How mSpot Music with Radio Spotter Differs from Existing Music Services:

• Unlike Pandora and Slacker; Play all of your own music alongside new music that is discovered on real radio stations: Your own music collection is the basis of all the new music you find and listen to.
• Unlike iTunes; Store your music collection in the cloud so that you can always access it, wherever you are. Your music is connected to the Internet, so you can match your preferences to hundreds of Internet radio stations to discover and play new music for free.
• Unlike subscription services like Rhapsody, MOG and Rdio; Listening is free. Match the music you already love with music playing on radio stations all over the Internet.
• Unlike Cloud storage services like Amazon or Google; Listening is not limited to your own music, or music for purchase; your music now connects you to hundreds of radio stations.

Radio Spotter Beta is available in the Android Market for Android users, in the United States only; iPhone, PC/Mac and other internet connected device support will be offered later in 2011, along with new premium features. mSpot Music is available at www.mspot.com for PC and Mac, in the Apple^® App Store and Android Marketplace.

mSpot Music offers the following features:

• Instant access to music collections from mobile, PC/Mac^® and Web-ready TV.
• Smart syncing across devices: No USB cords required; instantly syncs music from the cloud to user’s mobile; avoids playback interruptions.
• Automatically exports playlist, metadata, cover art, and more from iTunes.
• Continuous playback, even during spotty cellular coverage.
• Airplane mode: play cached songs on the phone without network connectivity.
• “Live Lyrics”: read the words to select favorite songs as they play on mobile.
• “Streaming only” option for users who want to save all the storage on their mobiles for other media.

mSpot Music offers free cloud storage for the first 5 gigabytes (approximately 4,000 songs): Additional storage is available for purchase; 40 gigabytes for $3.99 per month.

On Tuesday Slacker introduced a new subscription service called “Slacker Premium Radio.” Slacker Premium allows you to search for artists and play songs, or even full albums, on demand. Similar to Rhapsody, you can also cache songs for offline playback on your phone where a 3G or Wi-Fi signal isn’t available. The streaming radio service said that it offers 6 times the amount of music that Pandora offers, although it remains unclear how its library stacks up against Rhapsody or Microsoft’s Zune service. Slacker Premium Radio is available for the web, Android, iOS, and BlackBerry now for $10 per month.

[Via Phone Scoop]

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Pandora just announced that it has added a few comedy genres to its streaming radio offering. Much like you’d rate a song or artist, you can give each comedy track a thumbs-up or thumbs-down, and Pandora’s “Comedy Genome Project” will recommend different performers based on your tastes. Users can choose a specific comedian, or can select a specific genre such as “political comedy,” “working class comedy,” “PG comedy,” or comedy from the 60, 70s, 80s, 90s, or 2000s. Slacker Radio has had this feature for a while, but if you’re looking for some Lisa Lampanelli to spice up your lunch break, than Pandora should now have you covered as well. Hit the jump for the full release.

PANDORA DEBUTS PERSONALIZED COMEDY

• Just like music stations on Pandora, comedy stations can be personalized to each individual’s taste
• Powered by the Comedy Genome Project™
• Listeners can create comedy stations based on their favorite comedians, or on popular genres such as political comedy, working class comedy, PG comedy, or comedy from the 2000s, 60s and 70s, or 80s and 90s

OAKLAND, Calif. MAY. 4, 2011 – Pandora, the popular internet radio service, today announced that comedy is now available on the service where radio stations can be created and Personalized.

Pandora, known for pioneering personalized music listening and discovery, is broadening its array of content to include comedy in order to meet the requests of its listeners. A team of Comedy Genome Project analysts at Pandora has analyzed thousands of performances to capture their comedic style and content. Additional comedic material is being analyzed daily.

Pandora Founder and Chief Strategy Officer Tim Westergren said, “Pandora is about creating a great, personalized radio experience. Comedy is a natural part of that experience, and it’s something our listeners have been asking us to deliver for a while. We are delighted to now be able to give people a mix of familiar and new comic material that they’ll love to listen to.”

Starting today people can listen to comedy on Pandora in the same manner that they listen to music: by choosing a favorite artist or genre as a seed to start a station and then giving thumbs-up or thumbs-down feedback to shape the station to their individual taste. Like music stations on Pandora, comedy stations will play the seed artist and related material.

John Hyde, Vice Chairman of Image Entertainment, Inc. said, “Everyone knows Pandora – it’s unique in the entertainment industry for personalizing the radio experience for listeners and enabling talented artists to discover audiences that will love their music. Image is delighted that our comedy content is being included in the Comedy Genome Project and believe that Pandora’s reach with so many listeners offers an unprecedented opportunity for all comedians. It’s going to be fascinating to see how personalized radio tackles the comedy listening experience, it’s a new frontier and we’re excited to be a part of it.”

Companies like Apple and Google are doing their best to put together music products that compete directly with Spotify’s Web-based music streaming product. While reports suggest record labels are making the process as difficult as possible for these giants, Spotify just took the fight to their home turf. The company on Wednesday launched a new music download service that attempts to make Spotify “the only music player you’ll ever need.” Spotify users can now purchase and download full playlists comprised of any songs from the company’s 9 million-track catalog for as low as £0.50 per song. And as an extra little slap, Spotify’s new feature allows playlists to be synchronized with the iPod classic, iPod nano or iPod shuffle right from within the Spotify desktop app. Spotify still isn’t available in the U.S., but rumors suggest the company is closer than ever to striking deals with record companies that will allow it to launch its popular service stateside. Hit the break for the full press release and a video that explains the company’s new download service.

Spotify says hello to the iPod

May 4th, 2011

At Spotify it’s always been our mission to provide you with the best all-round music experience on the planet. For Spotify Premium subscribers, a huge part of that experience is taking your playlists with you wherever you go. However, for the rest of our users, listening to their favourite playlists on the move hasn’t been possible.

You’ve been telling us how much you love discovering, sharing and talking about music in Spotify – and you’ve created well over 200 million playlists to prove it. But you’ve also said you’re listening to a huge amount of music on your iPods, and that getting your Spotify playlists onto them as MP3s has been a serious hassle, forcing you to juggle multiple music players. That’s until now…

As of today, Spotify is making it possible for everyone to take their playlists with them in one lean, green music machine.

New features include:

Manage your iPod in Spotify! For the first time, seamlessly manage any iPod classic, iPod nano and iPod shuffle in Spotify. Simply connect your iPod to your computer via your USB cable and watch it magically appear in the new ‘Devices’ section of your Spotify sidebar.
Sync all the MP3s contained in your Spotify playlists to your iPod, and purchase the rest through…

The all-new Spotify download service! Listening to the music you want to hear, wherever you want it, just got a whole lot simpler – and cheaper.
Your playlists are special to you. You’ve spent untold hours putting together your own mix-tape masterpieces on your computer and want to take them with you, but without the trouble of having to buy each track separately, switching music players or breaking the bank? Then look no further.

Spotify’s new MP3 download service makes it possible to own your playlists in one easy step. By introducing a range of MP3 bundles, we’ve been able to offer you some of the most competitive prices available – from as little as 60 cents per song.

Spotify Mobile app now available to all! iPod integration was your biggest request, but there are also a lot of Spotify Free users out there who are iPhone and Android phone owners. You asked for the ability to buy your MP3 playlists and sync to your phones. So we’ve got you covered too…

As of today, everyone can download the Spotify Mobile iPhone & Android apps to wirelessly sync your MP3 playlists in Spotify from your computer to your phone. Fire up your mobile app and see your phone appear in the ‘Devices’ section of the Spotify sidebar, ready to rock and roll. No cables required! And did we mention it’s now possible to wirelessly sync these playlists to your iPod touch?

Now everyone can own their favourite Spotify playlists to take wherever they want. Heading out for a run or off on a trip? Buying the songs you want to hear has never been quicker, easier or more affordable.

All new features will begin being rolled out to all users from today as part of an automatic update. Be sure to give us a spin!

Daniel Ek, CEO & Founder of Spotify, says: “From today, Spotify really is the only music player you’ll ever need. Our users don’t want to have to switch between music players, but they do want to take their playlists with them wherever they go, on a wider range of devices, more simply and at a price they can afford. Now we’ve made that possible on one of the world’s most popular consumer devices.”

Gustav Söderström, Chief Product Officer at Spotify, adds: “Accessing music on your mobile phone is the future, but today that makes up a pretty small percentage of music fans. We want to open up the Spotify experience to as many people as possible, and in a way where they can get exactly the music they want at a great price. Check it out – we really hope you like it.”

Apple’s next-generation iPhone may launch even later than September this year, as has previously been rumored on numerous occasions. Apple has stuck to a summer launch for each new iPhone model released thus far, but the February introduction of Verizon Wireless’ iPhone 4 and the imminent release of the white iPhone 4 do suggest Apple may deviate from its previous schedule. Concord Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo cited supply chain checks in a note to investors on Monday, in which he suggests Apple’s iPhone 5 won’t enter mass production until September. This would make a September release highly unlikely, and would instead mean the new smartphone might launch in October or later. Ming-Chi also reiterates earlier rumors that the iPhone 5 will be an incremental update, and will feature Apple’s new A5 processor, an 8-megapixel camera and a Qualcomm radio like the one found in Verizon Wireless’ iPhone 4. Industry watcher DigiTimes recently issued a report calling any iPhone 5 manufacturing timelines to this point “baseless,” claiming Apple has not yet discussed the device or any production timing with its manufacturing partners.

A report on Wednesday claims European streaming music extraordinaire Spotify is “a few weeks away” from signing a new deal with Universal Music Group, the world’s largest music company. Reuters cites people familiar with the talks in reporting the deal, which will give Spotify access to Universal’s massive catalog of music in the U.S. Spotify has already inked a deal with Sony and the company is thought to be getting close to a U.S. launch. Despite the company’s progress, however, the report suggests Spotify is considering a launch without having signed a deal with Warner Music Group, the world’s third largest music label. Spotify currently offers a streaming music service in Europe and has been making considerable efforts of late to launch in the U.S. The service allows subscribers to listen to songs on demand and stream customized Internet radio stations to computers, cell phones and other devices.

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In a blog post today, RIM announced that it will begin seeding a new application, dubbed BlackBerry Radio, to select Beta Zone users in the United States. The goal of BlackBerry Radio is to make streaming internet radio stations, from multiple sources, easier to discover. That application pulls stations from popular online services like Slacker and iheartradio, as well as terrestrial sources like Clear Channel and Corus. Users can organize stations by genre and get links to purchase playing-songs directly from Amazon MP3. The application is free for Beta Zone users to test; interested parties can can sign up for BlackBerry’s Beta Zone here.

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Following rumors that streaming music provider Spotify was close to reaching its first deal with a U.S. record label, MediaMemo reports that the company has finally put one in its win column stateside. Spotify today signed a deal with Sony that will give the service access to Sony’s music catalog in the U.S., according to the report. The terms of the deal are said to be very similar to Spotify’s European deals, which would give U.S. users access to ad-supported streaming to a computer for free or ad-free streaming to a variety of devices for a monthly fee. The deal does not mean that a U.S. launch of the Spotify service is imminent, however. The company still needs to get additional labels on board, and it has had a great deal of trouble wooing U.S. labels thus far. Theories as to why labels are so reluctant include fear of further cannibalization of CD sales and fear of upsetting Apple, the top music retailer in the country.

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Spotify, the popular European streaming music service provider, is finally nearing a deal in the U.S., the New York Post reports. Following more than a year of negotiations with U.S. record labels, Spotify is said to be close to a deal with Sony and has “gained the support” of another label, according to The Post’s sources. Spotify launched in Europe in 2008, offering unlimited streaming music on demand. In its current state, Spotify offers free ad-supported access to users, as well as two paid premium plans — an ad-free £4.99 plan, and a £9.99 plan that allows streaming to mobile devices and station caching for off-line playback. The company has been fighting to offer its service in the U.S. for over a year but has been met with opposition from record labels, which are still uneasy with certain subscription models. Spotify would not confirm The Post’s report.

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Back in March of this year, Microsoft proudly announced that Pandora would be one of its big-name Windows Phone 7 launch partners. In an interesting turn of events last week, however, the popular Internet radio provider said on its Twitter account that it has no plans to develop an app for Microsoft’s new platform. Following reports of Pandora’s statement, the company reiterated its position:

I’m not sure if/when we will be available on [Windows Phone 7]. Appreciate everyone’s enthusiastic suggestions. I’m passing the feedback on.

We can’t imagine that Microsoft was lying when it boasted of Pandora’s imminent arrival on the Windows Phone 7 platform, but now Pandora is saying its future on the OS is uncertain. Pandora’s change of heart is yet another blow to Microsoft’s mobile platform as the company struggles to get popular apps on its new OS. Pandora Radio is one of several widely popular apps that would help ease customers’ transitions to WP7, though two of Pandora’s biggest competitors — Slacker and Last.fm — have developed and deployed Windows Phone 7 apps.

UPDATE: A Pandora spokesperson gave BGR the following statement with regard to the company’s plans for Windows Phone 7:

While we’re excited to see companies innovating and while we’re not ready to make an announcement specifically related to the Win 7 phone, we generally want to be everywhere our listeners want us to be.

Read [tweet 1] Read [tweet 2]

Is controversial radio-host Howard Stern on the verge of signing a three-year deal with Apple, Inc. to host an iTunes radio program? According to whomever operates the Sirius Stock News (@SIRI_STOCK) Twitter account, yes. Yesterday, the account posted a tweet that stated:

Howard Stern on the verge of signing $600 million 3 year agreement with Apple to host an Internet/TV/iTunes broadcast. $SIRI

The idea of Stern and Apple joining forces seems unlikely, but is — if you really stretch your imagination — plausible. We’ve reached out to both Apple and Sirius and will update this report with any additional information provided.

UPDATE: Blog softsquatch.com has published a post taking credit for the tweet and calling the whole thing a hoax. This new information, like the original post on Twitter, has not been authenticated by anyone of authority from Sirius or Apple.

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It’s been awhile since we’ve heard anything about the Motorola DEFY; a rough and rugged Android handset we first told you about in August that was announced just last month. But that all changes today. T-Mobile has announced, via Twitter, that the 3.7-inch scratch-resistant, touchscreen device — which also boasts a 5 megapixel camera with flash, DLNA support, FM radio, Wi-Fi Calling, and GPS — will be available for $99 with a 2-year contract starting on November 3. Not a bad little device for a c-note — especially if you’re one of those people who are unusually rough on electronics.

[Via TmoNews]

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It looks like T-Mobile is pushing out an over-the-air update to their recently released G2 handset that packs a couple of handy features. According to users over at xda-developers, the update brings Wi-Fi Calling, mobile hotspot creation, an update to the radio code, and several other performance tweaks. We’re sure the new code will be welcomed with open arms by those of you who have already picked up a G2. If you’re rocking said handset, and install the OTA update, let us know what you find!

[Via AndroidPolice]

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Have a hankering for that old-fashioned frequency modulation (FM) radio?  A member of the XDA forums has successfully ported several Motorola DROID X files over to the DROID 2 allowing the FM radio application to function on the QWERTY-slider handset. All that is required is a rooted DROID 2 and a fair amount of patience. Hit the read link to view the full instructions sheet.

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