By now, if you’re a Facebook junkie like me (and the rest of the world it seems), you have probably been noticing more and more of your news feed being taken up by notifications like, “Dominic Janidas listened to ‘King of Rome’ and 56 other songs on Spotify.” Before I knew what this was, I assumed it was just another music application junking up Facebook and my ability to “creep.” The more I researched however, the more I was sorely mistaken.
Spotify, founded by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon, is not only doing what music has always set out to do – connect people – but also it gives music lovers a way to listen to 13 million songs online…FOR FREE! Throw in social media aspects, LEGAL song sharing, and a Google-like simplistic user interface and you have the next big thing in music.
We all remember the Napster days, when everyone and their mother could download songs illegally and no one thought twice…until the lawsuits came about. Then, Apple went and revolutionized the way people listened to and purchased music with iTunes and the iPod, basically changing the music industry forever. Spotify, coupled with a connection to iTunes, changes the idea of free (and legal) music downloads and the word “limitless.”
Direct from the Spotify website: “Think of Spotify as your new music collection. Your library. Only this time your collection is vast: millions of tracks and counting. Spotify comes in all shapes and size, available for your PC, Mac, home audio system and mobile phone. Wherever you go, your music follows you. And because the music plays live, there’s no need to wait for downloads and no big dent in your hard drive.”
I do a majority of my work from my home office, or my home-away-from-home office (Starbucks), thus I’m on my laptop constantly. I’ve now become hooked on Spotify. It syncs up all of my music from my iTunes library, so I can have unlimited, ‘round the clock play. If I ever get tired of my own music, I can just search what my friends are listening to via Facebook, and I can have a whole new playlist with hours upon hours of free music! Friends can even send me their playlists and favorite songs. It makes the workday go by so much quicker! Take it one step farther and get the Spotify mobile app on your smartphone for when you’re on the go, for just $9.99 a month. For the amount of music that would be at your disposal, that price is peanuts.
How does Spotify do it, you ask? They work with the Big 4 music companies (Universal, Sony, Warner, and EMI) and smaller independent labels to offer a wide variety of music, titles, and artists. But it’s not just for major artists like Adele, The Killers, Nelly Furtado, Manchester Orchestra, and Band of Horses. Spotify caters to the unsigned artists and bands as well. As a manager of an up-and-coming alternative, indie rock band, These Lions, this is amazing news. It means that the support for local music is growing leaps and bounds, while giving unsigned artists the same benefits as someone signed to Interscope-Geffen-A&M…exposure and a chance at greatness. Who knows, maybe in the near future a notification in your Facebook news feed might read something like: “Dominic Janidas just listened to ‘So High’ and 1,000 other songs on Spotify.”
So, whether you are looking to jam out at the office for hours on end, or just looking to expand your music horizons and see what your friends are listening to, Spotify has something for everyone. You would be doing yourself a major disservice if you didn’t check out this killer site. Head over to Spotify now and be prepared to have your mind blown. Are you an unsigned artist looking to get your music heard by the masses? Follow this link to learn more about how you can get your tunes on Spotify.
~~ By Dominic Janidas