Following our
report last week on the potential for an ad-supported mobile version of
Spotify, it has been announced today that Spotify will be available to all
mobile streaming users, allowing them to play a number of songs on demand, for
free. Until now, users could only listen to Spotify on their mobile devices if
they paid for its £10 premium service.
This change will provide some healthy competition
for other similar services, including Nokia Music, Bloom.fm and Apple's iTunes
Radio, which is currently only available in the US but is expected to launch in
the UK at the beginning of next year.
Similar to the desktop version, the mobile
Spotify will now, if you wish, allow you to stream an artist's entire
discography whilst on the go. However, adverts will be played intermittently
between songs, which cannot be skipped or muted and users are forced to keep
their music in playlists and permanently on 'shuffle'. Tablet users will have
more control, with the ability to select specific tracks.
Wired.co.uk spoke to Miles Lennon, Product Manager of Spotify, who said that
in order to combat people creating short playlists to trick the system into
bypassing the compulsory shuffle mode, the software will use a series of
algorithms to force similar songs onto short playlists.The tiered services remain, which means it will cost you £4.99 to remove adverts, and £9.99 for the full premium experience across multiple devices.
Daniel Ek, CEO and founder of Spotify also revealed that, in line with Spotify's global expansion strategy, Spotify will be launching in 20 new markets in Europe and Latin America tomorrow, taking the total number of Spotify markets to 55.
"Today we're giving people the best free
music experience in the history of the smartphone and the tablet," said
Ek. "Whether you're going to the gym, or having a party with friends. Just
sit back and let Spotify serve you great music for every moment of your
life."
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