And some said it would never happen.
Today marks the arrival of the long-awaited big day – Spotify, the mega-popular European-based online music service, will debut in the United States this morning at 8:00 AM EST.
Spotify, which boasts some ten million users, is currently available in the U.K., Finland, France, the Netherlands, Sweden, Norway and Spain.
“Spotify, the award-winning digital music service loved by millions of Europeans, will become available tomorrow morning in the United States by invitation and subscription,” Spotify announced just hours ago. “Spotify is a new way to listen to and manage your music, discover new tracks and share songs and playlists with friends – music whenever you want it, wherever you are.”
The first wave of availability, however, is limited to “invitation and subscription.”
And we’re not exactly sure what that means yet. But we’re bound to find out later today.
Nonetheless, Spotify is gearing up to challenge iTunes in the online music space. The company is already promising to arrive with a bang, saying it will deliver “any track, any time, anywhere” for free.
What isn’t clear at this time, however, is how Spotify may charge users for expanded use of the service in the US. Currently in Europe, users can get the service for free if they are willing to endure accompanying ads and a strict limit of ten hours per month. If and how this structure will change in the US remains anyone’s guess. But Spotify says it will provide greater details later today at the time of launch.
