Freemium

Spotify: Deal with Sony Just "Days Away" - U.S. Launch Coming Soon?

Frederic Lardinois

14 Jan 2011 — 1 min read

Spotify, the on-demand music service that took Europe by storm, wanted to launch in the U.S. in 2010, but missed this deadline after contract negotiations with various record labels took longer than anticipated. Now, however, the New York Post’s Claire Atkinson heard from an anonymous “music executive” that Spotify managed to get Sony Music on board and that the company is “days away from signing a deal with” Spotify.

As we noted last week, the U.S. record labels don’t feel comfortable with Spotify’s freemium model. In Europe, Spotify’s users can choose between an advertising-supported free service and a premium, ad-free version that allows access to mobile ads, 320kbps streaming, an offline mode, and access to your music even while you are abroad.

But Would Spotify Launch in the U.S. With Just Sony on Board?

For now, I remain skeptical. Even if Sony really signs a deal with the company, Spotify probably won’t launch with just the music from one label. With just one label on board, Spotify couldn’t compete with other services like Rdio and MOG and the user experience would be quite horrible as you would constantly end up looking for songs that simply aren’t available on the service. On the other hand, once Sony signs with Spotify, others will surely follow – but that could take a few more months…

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But Would Spotify Launch in the U.S. With Just Sony on Board?

Read more

📝Google's surprise AI podcast hit

🪧 Pressed words

🔒Now's the time to prepare for the post-quantum era

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