I’m sitting here at Facebook’s F8 conference with Spotify CEO Daniel Ek and he’s just told me that Spotify will no longer be invite-only in the US, and that the service will have no limitations (essentially be free) for an unpaid user’s first six months using the service — the clock will start ticking, and be retroactive, after a user signs up.
This six months leeway will be available both internationally and in the US.
“For music to be inherently social it needs to be an open model, and that’s why we decided to do it today,” says Spotify representative Angela Watts. After the allotted six months have passed, music you encounter on Facebook will count towards your monthly Spotify limit, as you have to go through the Spotify app to listen to it.
Spotify’s tiered plans include a free version, which allows you to listen to up to ten hours free monthly, a $4.99 unlimited version which drops ads and $9.99 premium version which gives you unlimited mobile access in offline mode. “Paid users will continue to enjoy the service they have,” says Sehr.
If you live in the USA and love music, give Spotify a try. First 6 months, unlimited free music. After that, 10 hours a month free music.
It's so good that over 2 million people are paying for it.
January, 2010:------------ 250,000 paid subscribers
March 17, 2010:----------- 320,000
July 20, 2010: ---------------- 500,000
December 8, 2010: ------ 750,000
March 8, 2011:--------------- 1,000,000
July 14, 2011: -----------------1,600,000
Sept 21, 2011: ---------------- 2,000,000 paid subscribers
1 million paid subscribers added in the last 6 months. Since using Spotify, I have said bye bye to Pandora and Itunes/Amazon MP3. It's that good.
And I've never run into the 10 hours a month limitation tbh.
That because you haven't use Spotify for 6 months.
It's UNLIMITED for the first 6 months, then 10 hours per month. Paid subscription ($4.99 or $9.99) = ad-free and unlimited music with offline mode for mobile.
Basically, they want you to 'try' out their service for 6 months. Get hook and then you might be willing to pay when they cut your free music to only 10 hours a month.
Facebook's f8 conference on Thursday may not have been a changing of the guard in digital music, but it will certainly go down as a critical inflection point.
There was a noticeable generation gap in the day's events. Missing from f8 were companies from recorded music's eras that preceded streaming. iTunes, Amazon and eMusic were not on hand to represent digital downloads. Wal-Mart, Best Buy and Target did not represent the compact disc.
Facebook Music: What it is, What it isn't, and What it Means
Instead, much of the f8 conference was dedicated to Facebook's integration with streaming services -- both subscription and Internet radio. Spotify was the darling of the day. Its CEO, Daniel Ek, actually appeared on stage during Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg's keynote address. Following the keynote, Turntable.fm, Clear Channel and Ek -- again -- appeared on a panel titled "The Future of Digital Music." Some ticketing companies were part of the day, too. Ticketmaster, Ticketfly, Eventbrite, StubHub and ScoreBig are among the many companies who have integrated their products with the Facebook. But streaming services dominated the day.
Thursday won't be remembered as the day revenue from streaming services overtook CD and download sales, however. Streaming services are growing in popularity -- they're already massively popular if you include YouTube -- but are still financial lightweights compared to the billions of dollars of downloads and CDs Americans still purchase each year.
Instead, Thursday should be remembered as streaming services' coming out party. It was the day the CEOs of Spotify and Facebook shared the stage and discussed their visions for how music will be experienced in the future. And it was the day Facebook's value to music services became clearer than ever.
These music services need Facebook to create the kind of social features needed for today's marketplace. They need the instant context Facebook's social connective tissue brings to a catalog of 15 million songs. They rely on Facebook to facilitate the sharing and discovery that make these services fundamentally different than their download- and CD-era predecessors. And they benefit from Facebook Connect, which makes registration easy and helps services gain new users.
And, perhaps most importantly, these services need greater awareness. What better way to reach your target market than through the sharing enabled by a social network with 800 million global users? Integrating with Facebook will get these services into the news feeds and tickers of their users to be seen by their networks of friends, and their network of friends. All that visibility leads to less friction and lower barriers to adoption.
I've been using Spotify for a couple of months now (ever since they started allowing US customers)... I don't regret it at all. 9.99 a month and I get every CD i could imagine, anywhere I want? I'll take it.
Think of it like this: it's all your songs on iTunes (and more) whenever you want them. For only 9.99 a month you get any album/single available on Spotify, plus any songs you already have on your computer (whether on iTunes or not). The app for Android/iPhone works flawlessly as well.
And you are definitely saving money in the long run. Instead of just being able to buy Lady GaGa's "Born This Way" for 9.99 on iTunes, you are able to buy that, along with any other album released in May (or any month previously) for 9.99. I think in the long run iTunes and Spotify will dominate the music market. Both are effective at what they do, and there's no reason to believe that both cannot be competitive in a competitive market.
Yes indeed. I signed up and haven't looked back since. 8587 (26.7%)
Nope. I tried it out, but it's not for me. 2145 (6.7%)
No. I like to own my music, thank you very much. 4640 (14.4%)
Premium subscriber? You know there's a free version, right? 8608 (26.8%)
Naw, I love my Rhapsody / Rdio / Pandora, et al. 2871 (8.9%)
Whatify? 5301 (16.5%)
Spotify is certainly making its presence known in the U.S. this month.
Immediately following its highly visible appearance at the Facebook f8 conference last week, a number of new developments have emerged.
First, its invite-only beta phase is over, and is now a public beta open to all.
Second, all new accounts will get six months free.
And third, in a bit of controversy to stir things up, all new accounts are required to sign in using a Facebook account.
Facebook Music: What it is, What it isn't, and What it Means
Let's start with that last one. Any new Spotify user now has no choice but to establish a Facebook account if they want to use the service. Don't have a Facebook account? You need one if you want to use Spotify.
News of the requirement broke today, when new users began seeing the following message:
"You need a Facebook account to register for Spotify. If you have an account, just log in below to register. If you don't have a Facebook account, get one by clicking the 'create an account' link below."
News of the move has generated no shortage of complaints. But it's clear that both Facebook and Spotify are now musically joined at the hip. While any streaming music service can take advantage of Facebook's new notification capabilities, Spotify was by far the showcase provider. Spotify in return has hitched its cart fully to the Facebook wagon. In essence, Spotify just became Facebook Music.
