Spotify – The New Way To Listen To Music For Free
Can’t afford to buy any new music? You need not fret anymore, as the new music service Spotify is the answer to your problems.
What Is Spotify?
Spotify is an excellent new music streaming service, which allows you to listen to music for free.
Is It Legal?
Yes. Spotify have cleared the rights to the music that they provide and have deals with labels such as EMI, Universal and Sony BMG.
How Is It Funded?
Spotify compensate artists through advertising. Spotify say:
There should be significantly fewer ads in Spotify than you’d find on commercial radio. We are trying to strike a balance between artists who want to be paid and providing the best possible user experience.
Link: Spotify FAQ
You can also pay for a premium service which contains no adverts. However, I have been listening to music through Spotify over the past three days and I have not heard any adverts yet.
The Range Of Music
The Spotify music catalogue is improving all of the time and it includes most mainstream artists. Currently you can find most music from Modest Mouse to Britney Spears, however you might not find more obscure bands such as Mistys Big Adventure. So while it may not match iTunes range of music at the present time, it still has a good variety and I’m not complaining too much as it’s free!
The Program
Once you have registered for Spotify you can download the program, which has a nice clean feel and is very easy to use. Simply search for an artist and choose the tracks or albums that you want to listen to. The sound quality is very good and you can also create playlists like in iTunes.
The Main Difference To Other Streaming Sites
The main difference to other streaming sites like Last.fm is that you can actually choose the songs that you want to listen to, when you want to listen to them, just like a normal music player. This crucial factor makes this a definite future rival to paid music services like iTunes.
How To Get Spotify
Unfortunately at the moment Spotify it invite only, unless you want to pay for the premium service. However, Money Saving Student is giving away three invites to the first three commenters below. Invites will be sent to the email address that you comment with and if you do not what an invite then please state in your comment.
Link: Spotify
29 Comments... add one below
← 99p Pints At Wetherspoon 20% Off Food and Drink At Stations With BiTE Card →
January 8, 2009 3:18 pm
sounds quite good, wouldn’t mind the invite to try it out.
January 8, 2009 3:48 pm
@ David
I’ve sent you an invite. I hope you enjoy it:-).
January 8, 2009 9:27 pm
Oooo sounds good, last fm is a bit of a pain to use.
January 8, 2009 9:40 pm
@ Katy
I’ve sent your invitation. Only one left…
January 8, 2009 11:47 pm
I tried to use imeem once and it didn’t work for me on my computer so this sounds great! =)
January 9, 2009 4:38 am
Another choice to expand my range of music listening.
January 9, 2009 11:41 am
@ Kayla!!
I have sent you the last invite. Sorry Joelton, you were too late.
January 9, 2009 1:33 pm
Thank you so much for the invite, keep up the blogging its really useful info.
January 9, 2009 1:57 pm
No worries Kathy. I hope you like Spotify. Thanks:-).
January 9, 2009 10:45 pm
Looks good, I’ve been testing We7 of late. Not sure whether this will be better than last.fm or We7. What do you think?
January 10, 2009 7:52 pm
I think Spotify is better than both We7 and Last.fm by far. The main reason being is that it works just like a normal music player, so you have control over the music you listen to. On We7 and Last.fm you simply do not have as much control, although they do have a social networking side to them, unlike Spotify.
January 10, 2009 8:06 pm
I have five more invites to give away! Just add a comment below with the words SPOTIFY INVITE PLEASE if you would like one.
January 10, 2009 9:01 pm
Sounds great – I use last fm but this sounds better!
January 13, 2009 1:25 pm
This sounds cool. Got another invite in your pocket?
January 14, 2009 2:40 pm
sounds like a great idea!
January 14, 2009 4:51 pm
Hi I love music and recently found We7.com which lets you play albums or tracks on demand. Its free and you dont have to download anything. You do get little ads between each track but they are not long enough to be that painful.
emily
January 15, 2009 7:49 pm
SPOTIFY INVITE PLEASE
January 21, 2009 11:22 pm
Hey!! Would be super grateful for an invite
January 25, 2009 7:45 pm
Spotify Invite Please
February 2, 2009 6:16 pm
SPOTIFY INVITE PLEASE
For me!
Thanks!
February 14, 2009 10:41 pm
Spotify INVITE PLEASE!!!
February 23, 2009 7:53 pm
hi could i get an invite please:P
March 27, 2009 6:39 pm
hi can i have an invite from u please…
March 27, 2009 6:40 pm
Spotify invite please… Thanks.
September 19, 2009 2:28 pm
spotify invite please
September 20, 2009 11:22 am
@jack
You don’t need invites any more, Spotify is now open to the public in the UK.
October 6, 2009 8:09 am
Hello, the Spotify website requires invitations again. If anyone is kind enough to give any out I would love to have one. X
January 5, 2010 8:08 pm
if anyone has a spare invitation i would be most grateful
January 15, 2010 9:00 pm
i would also love one:-)!