
Spotify launches in the US - mattgreenrocks
http://www.spotify.com/us/hello-america/
======
cletus
Where oh where is the table of account types and what you get with each of
those?

Why do so many companies make this infuriating mistake? They either don't have
this page or it's completely in a completely obscure location. From the front
page I click on "Spotify Premium" link (or "Unlimited") and it takes me to a
sign up page.

Fail.

Here's a tip: NEVER, EVER ask for registration information until you're sure
the customer actually wants to sign up. I want to see what I will be getting
so I can make a decision.

The video is well-produced but it doesn't actually tell me anything. How does
the service work? What do I need? Is it an app or Flash? Take this iconic iPod
video [1]. It uses only _FOUR_ words but manages to tell me everything I need
to know (those words are "iPod" and "Mac or PC").

This might be a great service but I hazard to think how many customers they're
going to scare away (well, more annoy actually) with this bad UX.

[1]: <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TaVFCdwT0hk>

~~~
rberdeen
<http://www.spotify.com/us/get-spotify/overview/>

Weird that it isn't linked anywhere on the splash page.

------
estel
I (and I guess any other EU subscribers) have a number of invitations if
anyone here wants to try the Free version before committing to Unlimited.
Anyone interested in one?

Edit: can only send if your email address is on your HN profile, of course.

Edit edit: <http://www.spotify.com/us/amanda/> will be less hassle for all
whilst it lasts.

~~~
uggedal
My invite codes:

    
    
        All of my 32 invitation codes are now used.
     

Edit: removed the used ones.

~~~
elasticdog
Thanks from me as well...I used dfZx4U2xCTqe9Vsh.

I'm starting to think it would be nice to have a service where people could
share invite codes and keep track of which ones have been used.

------
csl
Here are some invites:

    
    
      czkDabFHu7D2F75Z
      e9urZw7CX6hq788t
      cef8MEp9YmUq5YdB
      epq4ATHmW4LMDRH7
      dfxBMdYsnLXeYtVk
      fDLkq2PU6qwFaZSR
      bNF5Ryq7xBddVr7a
      axpxx3axYK3D4M2R
      eMxWZYLNFfMsDTWT
      bFzczHM7bLe2xE7e
      c3DFEP6uL6n5Z4zA
      bZrG7LcUnbGeuFgy
      cMe2tK5ycNnSDqJx
      ehR9LrHPVV4HTwPH
      e4Zar8gffdVKwegE
      bMBz5nNRr5BZW8h4
      aug8Faukh7VVRmEM
      bZkqpWZ8hgFkfVXZ
      e56H5X8bDD7dEWME
      awURKwJDCPLDkncd
      fC3KV4npMre6Thwq
      daCc2AfVzaXxp9V4
      fmN6XSRSByu26n96
      bMmcxU2sW27MaEGB
      fzLXB4yM4gEm4aNK
      dWgYdbMRkw6XJBGb
      bZsYepMNTByHgrzU
      chPwyJHwMuD78P6r
      eyEwweJ72dMff6gE
      dZRU6TkaMK8Y3S6z
      aVRC52a3DR3b3G2z
      bmDdpBWAy4pJRRU2
    

Says they should work in the US as well.

Edit: Wow, that was quick. 24 invites used already! :)

~~~
giberson
Hey, looks like I found one that got skipped. I just used cMe2tK5ycNnSDqJx

Thanks for the invite.

------
peritpatrio
As I haven't contributed anything for the HN community, take these invite
codes as a token of my appreciation:

    
    
    		fBtbsnyhR7Sw3k3B
    		a9LXkhTx4YdTkP4a
    		czSVXhFkLgwRx6zS
    		e7wuTAMVtVck8BMC
    		cYAAdNPCpBgCtyyu
    		fG7GsqbFsBaE2knG
    		eCECZNnkaRy4VJ8q
    		duJy7W9EAR2KyYBd
    		exmWgPwsfsVbgBKy
    		eScdc6ctgdNsRSGF
    		e5K5nXfmswZfV8Mk
    		fBBnJNgd4Ur49XZZ
    		aUTDk63STysENRhM
    		dHgs5mwfTpwFuHzE
    		dyrJCYY74WKd3fnS
    		fkqWs4B2A4rV6bpu
    		dHuPEYSSLCHNgGS6
    		bkUkZy5bsw9c4u3U
    		fdVPkN4Fd65r33De
    		aKEwzC3yTBRNbLE9
    		eEp6Lq23VwW98wTu
    		cP2LJhfd7sbNXYMY
    		dDJzy2qmHCHKVRsW
    		ddDzbdD2d6MhA9Ur
    		edtLcZqrnZY2bXWm
    		eeENV5uFfnfUVayA

~~~
arrogant
eEp6Lq23VwW98wTu used. Thanks!

Since I didn't see an obvious way from the front page, the place to sign up
for a free account if you have an invite code is:
<https://www.spotify.com/us/get-spotify/overview/>

~~~
alexgaribay
That helped me a lot. I kept trying to sign up on the wrong page and kept
saying every code I was using was invalid. I was getting incredibly irritated!

------
burriko
Spotify Premium pricing UK £9.99 US £6.19 ($9.99, converted using google)

The UK price is over 50% more than the US price. As someone who's been
subscribing to Spotify Premium in the UK for over a year, this feels like
quite a slap in the face.

~~~
revorad
In the UK, for a lot of things we pay the same numerical amount in pounds as
Americans pay in dollars.

~~~
metatronscube
Yeah I have noticed that quite a lot, its almost becoming a 1 to 1 transfer
rate. I'm going to give up Spotify now for this very reason. Its rather
disappointing.

~~~
pvnick
Come join us at grooveshark.com. Unlimited for free!

------
ChrisLTD
I've subscribed to MOG, and I currently subscribe to Rdio, but I've been
itching to try Spotify for what seems like a year now.

My early thoughts:

1) The software is snappier than, but not as well designed as Rdio.

2) Their catalogue is missing a lot of work from some of my favorite main
stream artists (Bob Dylan is the biggest hitter I've encountered so far with a
woefully incomplete discography).

3) No web interface like Rdio or MOG, so you're out of luck on a work computer
where you don't have full rights to download and install software.

4) Being able to add in your own music files is nice plus since neither
service has 100% of what I want.

5) Having an ad supported free version is great for sharing playlists. I've
made Rdio playlists I'd love to share with their embeddable web widget, but
only people with a paid Rdio account can hear the songs. With Spotify you
don't get a web widget, but you can share playlist links which anyone can
listen to with a free account.

------
ThomPete
Spotify will change your life from one appreciating ownership to one
preferring access.

At least it did with me.

~~~
bergie
Same thing here. I don't have any MP3s any longer.

Kindle is doing something similar to my book reading. We ditched all paper
books sometime last winter (they're now in the office library), and I'm
actually reading a lot more because all my books are with me all the time.

~~~
pavel_lishin
But don't you own those books on your kindle? (Ignoring the arguments about
whether you truly own something they can delete remotely, etc.) If you bought
them, access didn't replace ownership - it supplemented it.

~~~
bergie
I think of anything DRMd more as rental. I think the term "Buy" there is quite
deceptive

------
jensnockert
Edit: Sorry, I am out, didn't think my ~60 invites would go through that
quickly, hopefully those who got some are enjoying the service.

~~~
diek
Used c5EALbFdqG9d3Br4. Thanks!

------
qF
Interesting that the price is 4,99 USD, while in Eurozone it's 4,99 EUR. So
it's actually cheaper for Americans.

I know it's common for products originating in the USA (games, electronics,
etc.) to make the USD -> EUR conversion 1:1 but it's interesting to see it's
also done the other way around.

I am not complaining though, Spotify is an awesome service and well worth the
money!

edit: Seems there's more people who noticed the same, it's even the same with
GBP, which has an even bigger difference than the Euro.

------
alopes
Some invites:

cNqeAdBR4rnb4T9A , fE2ZrCLVNGfAJXKW , du4YaCBM337ZHnPL , e3NxdL5CnspC42ut ,
anFKrCMpD9X8ZJEL , dAXGZ8VTPE9Rk7Rx , bTE59B9TCWfHKBSR , cd4nHezZ9SafkmFh ,
cY4u7E7R2RrWMfca , fMHTqKLC6Z45nEn8 , dFKksMek8xhL2NS8 , eW8HBT75Ab5pDbSc ,
ca4AtNNmp9Cg77WE , c7BhhM9Z82rccnsd , dDrc38Ungxa9CxP3 , dfSV9B8MdwbAndmf ,
eW6gJwRrzc38TwEM , aB7UDYuM7cPzWB8Z , aXzrkNaULmeUzKnn , eT4Vy4cbA6DZSHPS ,
cpSAhfyD6fSZrUKu

~~~
mitjak
Looks like all these are dead :/

------
joshfinnie
Does anyone have a guess as to why they are doing an "invite only" style
opening here in the US? I would think with their success abroad, the
infrastructure is strong enough to support the added subscribers...

Is this just to increase artificial demand?

~~~
Schmidt
Most of the servers are also located in the UK AFAIK and the first 30 seconds
are always streamed from their servers. Managing demand could be a reason.

~~~
tommi
I'd be extremely suprised if Spotify didn't have servers in the US for this
release.

~~~
sandstrom
They've got servers in the US too.

------
creativityhurts
Get exclusive invites from here <http://www.spotify.com/us/amanda/>

------
mhp
Is this pretty much the same thing as Rhapsody, or am I missing the
significant difference?

~~~
chrischen
Rhapsody used to be quite similar to spotify. Their desktop app let you play
free music. But lately they've fallen behind and their player UI hasn't
changed much for like 5 years. They don't have a Mac app. But if you use
windows, Rhapsody comes close to Spotify in terms of features.

------
sambeau
I've been using Spotify since the UK closed beta (a few years ago, now). At
first it seemed like the most amazing thing ever, but slowly I fell out of
love with it, and now I barely use it.

Why?

1) The ads. At first they were reasonably infrequent and unobtrusive. But
gradually they became more frequent and more and more obtrusive. Eventually
some companies were deliberately producing jarring ads to grab your attention.

Many of the ads were for music. Other music: music that I would never listen
to and (more importantly) music that was totally incongruous and jarring to
the music it was interrupting.

2) Disappearing Music. I created loads of playlists filled with interesting
(often independent) new music. Gradually whole playlists disappeared and
stopped working. It felt like _my_ music was being stolen. To replace
ownership with streaming (at least for the generation that owned CDs) the
catalogue needs stability.

3) Missing Music. As usual it's the big, classic stuff. I bought a license for
a christmas party at my parents house. The lack of Beatles, Stones, Queen etc
caused a near riot. Spotify was booed off.

4) Skype. I don't know why (but I suspect its probably Adobe's fault ;-)) but
Skype and Spotify on the PC seem to have a problem with each other. Maybe I'm
seeing ghosts here but I frequently have problems with these two apps (and the
Chrome Flash plugin). Eventually I had to stop using one or other.

5) The artist payments are miniscule-to-the-point-of-broken. See this:

    
    
      http://www.informationisbeautiful.net/2010/how-much-do-music-artists-earn-online/
    

I realise that the first problem would have been easily fixed by buying
Spotify Premium and I was going to do this until my favourite music started to
disappear.

Hopefully, the US launch will be enough to persuade the small labels to return
to Spotify (maybe they already have?) and with a larger advertising base
better ads could be produced and more appropriate targeting of ads could make
the advert-laden experience more palatable. Similarly, a US launch may
convince the big rock dinosaurs to join. That, at least, would improve next
xmas.

Don't get me wrong: Spotify is an amazing thing and has a ton of potential.
The US (especially teen US and low-income US) is going to love it. The App is
fantastic (kind'a magical when you first see how quickly and easily it plays
music).

If you have mainstream, modern taste and can stomach the loud ads you'll get
great service for free.

If you're a fussy indie-kid like me who mostly listens to whispering soft
audio as you work, you may want to check how many of your favourite obscure
artists are onboard before you buy premium.

As for artists - while Spotify is a great innovation and a valuable way to
move young people from illegally torrenting to legally streaming music it
needs to generate more money for the musicians for it to be truly sustainable.

Edit: To make clear this is a UK account (not a US beta) so the falling-out-
of-love took a few years.

~~~
jsherry
I have been using Spotify in the US in closed beta as well for over a month,
so just wanted to give my two cents on these points. I will respond in order:

1.The ads on the free plan are obtrusive, but it's free. I didn't find them
any more obtrusive than Pandora's ads. That said, I love the service and
wanted to take it mobile, so I upgraded to premium, so I'm no longer hearing
ads.

2.I didn't experience disappearing playlists. I'm sure this happened to you,
just pointing out that it's not a super common occurrence b/c I'm on Spotify
hours per day with plenty of playlists and haven't seen the issue.

3\. Agreed. I miss my Beatles and Pink Floyd. However, the Stones' library is
on there.

4\. Again, I'm sure you're seeing this issue, but I use both Skype and Spotify
on my PC fairly often and haven't had any issues.

5\. In fairness, I'm just interested in a streaming music platform - not
starting a movement. There are plenty of inefficiencies in the record label
industry, but I'm. Just a startup guy, not an artist so it's not my fight ;-)

One issue I will add is that Spotify stopped streaming on my Droid about two
weeks into my premium subscription. However, customer service couldn't have
been more responsive and helped me fix the issue pronto.

~~~
markng
The "disappearing playlist" the parent refers to is a licensing issue, not a
technical one, as far as I could tell. When I was in the UK (now in the US),
whole artists catalogs would go missing all at once. I eventually stopped
paying for the service because of this (it wiped out about 10% of the content
from my playlists).

~~~
sambeau
Agreed. As I recall small labels started removing themselves as they weren't
making any money from it.

~~~
gmac
Hmm. I wonder if they were making money from it indirectly, though. I use
Spotify mainly as a try-before-you-buy service, and I wouldn't be suprised if
others did too.

~~~
seabee
From their POV it's only marginally more profitable than piracy. Thus I expect
the attitudes to be similar (and varying between artists).

------
xmlninja
Here's some invites, register with them at
<https://www.spotify.com/us/invitation/>

Updated list of the ones that are left, be quick:

eB2BAJAA9xLxYBxD asMr7rpHG2Lqm3wE eJBKb75caywbasFD aSHF6dFyM7Gbyrrq
abULR7ucEmwp6GBZ aBYECGgHw9yLuTzx dwZxF2PGmNpVkeEP eLxsqahHYLsdHDGF
aadzPV2nfdXB3STx

~~~
Synthetase
Used: asrWhpJYUWyBJfcgSend

Your great.

~~~
xmlninja
np. enjoy.

------
sssparkkk
Maybe it's just me, but I think their ad is fantastic. I hope they become
successful in the US!

~~~
kristofferR
Yeah, it would probably become a smash hit if it were aired on TV!

------
revorad
I don't understand why they don't have a web app, especially when competitors
like Last.fm, Grooveshark, Turntable.fm and others do.

~~~
anti
Guess there could be some uses for a web app, but the desktop app is just so
much better than any flash/html5 app. Haven't touched itunes after spotify.

~~~
revorad
I use thesixtyone, earbits, grooveshark, last.fm in the browser and I have no
trouble at all. The thing with music apps is that I just choose a
playlist/station, hit play and forget. The UI doesn't even matter beyond that.

~~~
mzl
For a lot of people with that use-case the UI might not matter, but it is not
the only use case for a streaming service. From
<http://www.csc.kth.se/~gkreitz/spotify-p2p10/> one can see that almost 40% of
tracks played are chosen actively as opposed to just continuing on to the next
track.

------
silverlight
Am I the only one who signed up for a premium account with the expectation
that I would be able to share it with my wife? I'm not quite sure why there's
the artificial restriction on being in 'online' mode on more than one
computer. It's really a deal-breaker for me. Our only option (I guess) is to
have two accounts, which means managing two playlists, etc. (we like to curate
them together, our music tastes are very similar). Ah well, I'm not sure if I
will continue my subscription past this month...

~~~
silverlight
Having done a bit more looking, it seems like Rdio, MOG, and Spotify all have
this restriction, and according to help articles on the MOG site, this is due
to the contract the recording industry puts forth. I guess I see where they
think this should be included, but I really don't think they should expect one
family to purchase 2 or 3 subscriptions.

------
tintin
For those interested: The Linux version is getting better and better. I'm
using it daily.

I think Spotify is absolutely worth the money. It's also great for playing
your own music collection.

------
udp
4.99 USD a month for unlimited? It's 4.99 _GBP_ a month in the UK, which is
more like 8.00 USD. That's not fair!

1:1 pricing aside, it's very good news that they're launching in the US.

~~~
TylerE
Remember we don't have VAT here, so that's what, a 25%, 30% difference right
there?

~~~
xd
currently 20%

------
ethank
I'm interested to see how the US consumer reacts to Spotify. Streaming music
isn't new, and its had very little uptick as consumer behavior is mostly given
toward a 5 record a year purchase (average music spend per US 18-65 is 50
bucks there a bouts).

120 is a big jump for the average person.

Also Spotify US will not be allowing you to "live" as a free user for long.

I have other issues with Spotify, both good and bad, but that is its own blog
post and nothing I submit to HN gets up voted anyhow :)

~~~
ethank
If anyone is interested, here is the blog post to which I refer:
<http://www.blackrimglasses.com/2011/07/06/on-spotify/>

------
Nervetattoo
Spotify made me throw away CD-s, delete all mp3s and other audio files and
stop being less-than-legal. It'll be interesting to see how big a foothold
they get in USA, to me its a truly awesome service and currently on par with
vim as the most essential tool on my computer.

The pricing is a lot cheaper than in Norway, but even here I think its cheap
($18 / month for premium) and would gladly have paid four-fold if that was the
cost.

------
s04p
Really interested in how apple will react. Will they kick the app out of the
app store once it's becoming a real threat to itunes?

------
marksu
I have a whole bunch of invitations - however, I will be leaving town for the
weekend and will probably be without internet connection. So if anyone is late
on the train but still interested, leave a comment with an email here and I
will try to get them to you on monday as I will check the thread as soon as I
get back!

------
ubercore
Is there a site that compares (up to date) catalog sizes of the different
services? Rhapsody used to have the largest, but I couldn't abide their
website. Rdio has a great site, but their selection wasn't so great. Mog has
been a decent compromise, but I'm interested if Spotify has a larger library.

~~~
jmtulloss
When did you last try rdio? We've filled in a lot of missing chunks in the
past few months and more will be coming with time.

~~~
ubercore
It's been awhile, probably 5 or 6 months. I will check it out again. Rdio has
the best player I've used so far.

------
tptacek
So, do I want to give Rdio up for this?

~~~
dstone
I'm an Rdio user and I've been trying Spotify today. I'm not thrilled with
their music library. There are a bunch of bands that I love that Rdio doesn't
have (Arcade Fire, Shins, Ramones, Pink Floyd, older Flogging Molly, newer
Eisley, etc.). There are only a few albums that I really want that Rdio
doesn't have, by contrast.

I feel like Spotify's UI is just a gray iTunes, whereas Rdio's UI is more in
line with how I think about music. The search function in Spotify is really
poor compared to Rdio.

Rdio blows away Spotify in terms of the discovery and social aspects. I really
like the ability to follow people that have the same tastes as I do. I've
found a bunch of new bands that way. With Spotify, you have to find friends on
Facebook and Twitter. And no offense to my friends, but I think their taste in
music sucks.

I'm sticking with Rdio.

~~~
jmtulloss
It's true that most of the bands you listed were not available a while back,
but I believe all of them are available now. We are missing some Pink Floyd
though.

If there's something missing that you really want to see, make a request here:
[https://spreadsheets.google.com/a/rd.io/viewform?formkey=dHd...](https://spreadsheets.google.com/a/rd.io/viewform?formkey=dHdmTjhSMm51ZmdkdHNMQmxKbmduUnc6MQ)

And thanks for sticking with rdio!

~~~
chrischen
I just cancelled my Rdio subscription because of missing artists. There's one
really really easy way for you to fix this issue though. Let me manage music
that's not in your catalogue so I don't have to pull out iTunes, and so I can
mix and match those songs into Rdio playlists.

------
rmc
Still not in all parts of Europe. I'm in Ireland, a fellow eurozone country,
and I still can't get it.

------
chrischen
I'm interested in seeing if their better than piracy strategy will actually
work.

Rhapsody had tried the same thing in the mid 2000s, letting people play songs
for free.

They seem to think that people who aren't willing to pay for music will use
Spotify because it lets you play free music, and then magically decide to
start paying for mobile access. But the reality will probably be these users
sticking to their less than legal ways and keeping their mobile access via
iTunes. So without the compelling free component, it ends up being just an
improvement over other music subscription services, and music subscription
isn't really a groundbreaking new model.

...or Perhaps subscription is the model of the future and there hasn't been a
large enough marketing push educating people yet...

------
gizzlon

      pros:
          * good mobile apps
          * offline support
          * as good a selection as anyone here in Scandinavia
          * great shared playlist support
          * you can create a link to songs/albums etc..
          * facebook connect
      
      cons:
          * music can be missing / disappear (guess we should blame the labels..)
          * some music can be available in some countries but not others (guess we should blame the labels..)
          * you rent and don't own, so if they tank or you quit you will loose "your" music
          * "related artist" feature sucks, but there are some last.fm integration web-apps
          * a lot of the artist info are missing
          * album dates are sometimes off (click on the album and look at the copyright)

------
eyko
Some invites here…

    
    
        eCHNmfHZuqF9TmD3
    
        afszECXK8CW5tCJs
    
        cEnYXD7WVKWpDKB3
    
        ctecqyA3qAGB5UAs
    
        aYZ8B7PdrmGHN68w
    
        c2hPAbDfttNkYULz
    
        dmMwezXMt95tr4ud
    
        byaEuB7qBq8e9sd7
    

Got some more left if they run out…

~~~
bethling
Thanks!

I took ctecqyA3qAGB5UAs

------
fpoller
Some more invites:

D6Mtj4MyMg6hzJ8t ETWbfUwiBMFcU2Ph WPAS74wtHu9tMmyN HJmJz2FP3UJDhswi
fzdnV35pk2yHdL3c gGM7nUmHp5RMEyqt iSjWhLn2K9uYgX82 wsSYtfZFCAdAsh2f
D7FnpxmUe5d8DKD6 69aTCaa3g4bH6Pgg qC5F8Duiqk9Uim9Y Fcgdb2JauHUDt5Aj
qDsZz8Fh6DRAeHks Fsn3UgS4EqVNX9iH ePKFqMGw63N52CJw aEADiTuH7MuXq2yW
ysE4ALgXL9JNz3ZG iR4YAdyzFPiiy5Ta GUhTyEwWFZ6fA4LX eATtWNb6znwWFKA3
aMCqCWZEtzHdnCew aE57pUkzVreGpSeW dpyDJS3xqcC5REMC aHWdX4f2YDDmGVgu
akfcypkYsCGqzG4P bVM55CNq7KHrLgEy efCYNacLAS9NqMDz fFkuEeNR4G5gkdFp
dKyzfb6TgVbGmax8 afuPf5Yn5K42ktkV a3cDmTKGmf97ZHG3

~~~
fpoller
These are still left:

WPAS74wtHu9tMmyN

HJmJz2FP3UJDhswi

fzdnV35pk2yHdL3c

wsSYtfZFCAdAsh2f

69aTCaa3g4bH6Pgg

qC5F8Duiqk9Uim9Y

Fcgdb2JauHUDt5Aj

qDsZz8Fh6DRAeHks

~~~
BlackJack
I used "qDsZz8Fh6DRAeHks" for myself and "Fcgdb2JauHUDt5Aj" for my mom. Thanks
a ton mate!

------
pinko
As someone completely unconnected to the company, I don't understand how MOG
has totally failed to get any mindshare. Same product, same price, but has
been available in the US (including on the iPhone) for >1 year. I assume it
must be a profound marketing failure, because the product itself is stellar.
(I really, really like it.)

If I worked there I'd be driven absolutely _insane_ by the media buzz for all-
you-can-eat streaming music that almost always fails to mention them.

~~~
gfodor
Yes, I agree. MOG has been ahead of the competition for almost a year and yet
you never hear anything about it.

Total, epic marketing fail.

~~~
dstone
I disagree that Mog is ahead of the competition.

For me, while Mog has more songs, they lose to Rdio in their UI, their iPhone
app, and the social aspect of the service.

When I was comparing them, it was neck and neck between the two, but I
couldn't stand Mog's crashy AIR player compared to Rdio's rock-solid AIR
player. The Rdio website is much more intuitive and usable, IMO. Also, the new
Rdio for Mac app is crazy awesome. The Mog iPhone app used to sign me out all
the time, too, which was really irritating.

I've also found a lot more new music through Rdio than I ever did when I was
using Mog. The social features are nice because I've been able to find people
who like the same type of music and then listen to new music they discover.

It's all a lot of little things, but they added up to make Mog really quite
unacceptable for me.

~~~
gfodor
MOG was around way before Rdio. And for me, its all about the music. I could
care less about social features and never ran into problems with the AIR
client or the phone client.

Also, MOG just finished a HTML5 redesign anyway.

------
augustl
More invites:

    
    
        bfhyfNgA5GwMpXAp
        fp5KtpFcSkmD6b2s
        ed6AgEph6BZhL8ug
        cmV4LDWzgS6GhcZd
        eBAXdEBKCUyuSBEh*
        cKZpbrGFchyA2BYE*
        dxY2cZMJHzbNETX3*
        hhrJR85yGBXNrGw9*
        cBfHcKrzAuacakTW*
        c22XSWuz6EtWTsB6*
        dafFbnxVePubpuYD*
        cegrXnVfrD68Fkaw*
        ae8nNCwT2b7hDSGg*
        eq5XcPJk5TL5JPwA*
        aWRthApJb7SJRNsM*
        ayUhwq64t62gDTJm*
    

* = Used

For the record, inviters are disclosed with the user name the invite ends up
as.

~~~
rufo
Just used cBfHcKrzAuacakTW - thanks!

------
markerdmann
Spotify seems less exciting than Grooveshark, which has been available in the
US for a long time.

<http://www.grooveshark.com>

~~~
citricsquid
If "exciting" means "Actually paying artists and not fucking them over
constantly and abusing the DMCA to get away with it" then yes, it certainly is
less _exciting_.

~~~
invisible
Do you actually have a source concerning paying artists or are you just
fabricating everything you say?

<http://www.grooveshark.com/labellist>

~~~
citricsquid
Let's play a game!

Step 1. Pick an artist! I'll go for "Britney Spears". Step 2. Pick an album!
I'll go for her latest "Femme Fatale". Step 3. Find that album on Groove
Shark! Easy enough, it's right there under "Britney Spears". Step 4. Check
which label that album is distributed under, Wikipedia states it's under the
label "Jive" (who are a division of Epic, part of Sony). Step 5. Search
through that list for any label associated with the ones I just listed.

nothing

So here they are, making money of the latest Britney Spears album, yet they
aren't licensed to! What a surprise! This is all Grooveshark do. They will
only remove _after_ they get a DMCA request because "oh our users upload it!
We didn't know! Those naughty users!". That label list is 95% small labels
nobody cares about that very few people listen to the music of, none of the
larger labels are on there. I would love to see Grooveshark publish a
breakdown of what % of their music (based on listens) is licensed vs.
unlicensed. I'd bet $100 it's less than 50%.

"oh but it's too hard to get licenses! It's the big bad RIAA!!". Wait a
second, we're posting in a thread about a company doing exactly what
Grooveshark should be doing and doing it successfully!

~~~
invisible
EMI, one of the majors, has an agreement with Grooveshark. Merlin, which some
say is the 5th largest label, also has an agreement with Grooveshark. Plus all
of those other labels on that list that, to you, may be small but represents a
LOT of artists.

Youtube also allows uploading of content and takedowns via DMCA, so that is a
bit disingenuous of you to claim it's not standard practice. Labels have every
right to be compensated and also do takedowns if they choose, but RIAA
normally just blankets takedowns that may or may not be inaccurate.

------
3ch0
More invites if needed.

    
    
      ebP963yNKtKhTBG5
      cDu6ytmRASJDgAgC
      fC3f3uVgBd2RV9pN
      bsh35de4nBwwFw2e
      bYsL8AdCK5fFV5qU
      ckJCHBBNUpETh9gz

~~~
dennmart
Thanks! I was able to use cDu6ytmRASJDgAgC.

------
barredo
I thought I spent them all when I got Spotify but apparently I have 10
invitations, codes:

    
    
      bsAdzYsqp64ngwLP
      bkhVaqTDPkcbMP94
      aHLNnUyw7zxAS5Rg
      bZBEuEEpynPUAYmH
      beHDAAHEes95D2Tm
      bxCUSJbGxWTsz5Pw
      e7PemkbC2sLykXwM
      dxa6t3M2Ncu9Ra52  
      aCxAbykNEyrJzWCs 
      deUWDgPchWycFhK3

~~~
luke_osu
Used bxCUSJbGxWTsz5Pw Thanks!

------
iamjoshua
Just a tip if anyone can't get an invite code:

Google "uk proxy" or similar and use a web based proxy search like daveproxy
to sign up for a UK spotify account. Once your account is created, you can
change your country on your profile to the US :) Download the spotify app and
you're good to go.

------
mtogo
I was excited to try it, but the Linux desktop client apparently doesn't work
for free subscribers. Tried it on iPhone, but that requires a paid
subscription too.

Oh, well. I'll go back to Rdio, Rhapsody, MOG, and all the other established
services that do the same thing for cheaper.

------
martingordon
I signed up for Spotify on one of my trips to London a year ago and I'm happy
to report that I'm able to log in to the desktop app from a US IP.

The website seems confused by my status, however, and I get stuck on a page
trying to get me to register for one of the paid plans.

------
iamichi
I'm happy they've finally launched the US version. I've been a subscriber
since it launched and had a lot of love for it since. I'm curious to how it
compares with the other services users get stateside and looking forward to
reading some American reviews..

------
blocke
Could someone please tell me why people are excited about Spotify in the US?

We have established competitors and I've failed to find a single thing Spotify
does better than the competitors.

Also the competitors do this amazing thing that Spotify doesn't: They work in
a web browser.

------
prosa
If you're looking for a comparison of the Free and paid plans, you can find
the UK version here:

    
    
        https://www.spotify.com/uk/get-spotify/overview/
    

It's a shocking omission on the US site, but the plan features are the same.

------
kristofferR
Here are some unused invite codes:

ePU6yTfM5FxuGKtA

cs7VEtf2546D62WD

aYJqb5yn29qDPKxn

c4Ha9NZETXg9VR8g

a48ukp52KL4h9cK8

~~~
telemachos
Awesome! (used fDtzazT9U7SdXtny)

------
nicon
_Sight_ Still not in Canada... seems like we're always late to the game.

~~~
sjs
We've got Grooveshark and Slacker, and Grooveshark doesn't make you hear _any_
ads even if you don't pay them. The other side of that is you can only use
Grooveshark on your phone if you are a paying customer.

Apparently Pandora has good recommendations so I'll give them a try when they
come to Canada. As for Spotify, meh. What's so great about them?

~~~
mmatants
Rdio is also in Canada.

~~~
nicon
Yeah Rdio seems nice. I just wish the recommendation were better, but for the
rest I like it a lot.

------
c4urself
I use Spotify and wonder what America will think of the following two
problems:

1\. Crappy search (You don't get suggestions)

2\. Not all artists are on there (Beatles for example) and they are somewhat
slow on putting up new music

------
rickr
Didn't see an area for feedback on the site so if anyone's looking the signup
form broke when I used the birth year of 1892. Didn't hightlight the form
field or provide a message.

------
lh
Here are some more invites, if anyone still needs one:

    
    
      euuJEPLLXbGeufwA
      dECXdYWDkcypmAub
      eC9sYrgR7f9ZLHDT
      eCxtnsyNweFcxupS
      dukMrGFCEsLbrVW2
    

Edit: All gone :)

~~~
lh
Some more invite codes, be quick:

    
    
      as8ShFu5NPg7UptG
      aAZNzhbHU95dDuUb
      ayNwzzDuN63LPLyD
      acqSKLJNksP38993
      eYL7GdgGXkxUWbdL
      cyEtE42BYuBsgR6p
      ffk8ZusTNS53J6Eb
      dXfmzccnLsFpGSHu
      cLgNpWGdYz6Ud7aA
      cVhkcUDeWdmZHfms

~~~
r00fus
thanks! used eYL7GdgGXkxUWbdL

------
thirdsun
Great. Now get back to making your service available in germany.

~~~
elii
I am using Simfy in Germany. Pretty much the same except for the crappy iPhone
app.

------
growt
Some more invites:

eTzVddU3UszVSJa6

fFr3EpxVE567dHUg

aCSgKaXVbGBBUbc8

dpcVDHEchXWENxNq

baaSWgK4UtB2RMhf

P.S. I love spotify, but I use the paid version, so no ads for me.

~~~
Splines
These all appear to be used.

~~~
growt
you're right. And not a single upvote :( Here are some more:

cG9GD6USFgN2e47W

bbpkMb3zLgPpHpD7

a79LUuAkyuP93b8U

bRpH8ys433JNeX4P

aTdZ672NZYSnrpSx

aBb5as4bWdhrBzWd

------
moe
That ad is spectacular.

------
robgough
Anyone still want invites?

    
    
      cqVtu76b25wyhfCH
      deqeg4bfhmfdgxeg
      fcZUwSaLyNkffzPf
      cUCnBWWcMg7cXDB9
      cHmUN7WPf6RDKG6y
      dxDptUhmh2y976xu
      aF6AN8NaquAVUWdP

------
nicolasp
Here are a few invite codes for those who'd like to try it:

    
    
        aqwPkzBeHqUe64YG
        c2D3YPErPJy29gPJ
    

(updated to remove used ones - last two!)

~~~
nicolasp
Can't edit any more, but they're all gone! 34 in two hours :)

------
sandstrom
For once I've got invites to share -- instead of the other way around, which
was the case for Google+ etc.

List your email and I'll send you one (I've got 10).

Edit: I'll just paste them:

dcCX5xfxB7szb2E9

eZwUPA3C8yBDJkyb

aNmdgpGRXxu7yk8f

cRDyA6twLGzXmsAG

d6q78ywcpeuUEyXK

cqfg9pq8483zUYtN

~~~
treblig
[removed]

Much appreciated!

~~~
sandstrom
sent!

~~~
treblig
Got it, thanks!

------
artursapek
Industry troubles aside, the art/animation they're using is so refreshingly
fun compared to most new companies it actually gave me a rush.

------
frekw
Some invitations:

cFYRnaVgfcBYcHH4

fBMLspgTF7BHcRG2

apR5Pfyq8wPzpfTB

akeAbUJG2rLegCVR

bXsqWk2X8CdE3u8q

cJe98FeBPxbFKZq8

drp8Z28F9CRPppgb

eS246SkKmR7BkHmc

aaAwWd8wDpLtbyK8

dhumPYKa39FpheNt

eeZ7kDbS627tZWT3

fDrYCerDMxTwhcwR

aur28tHeccFFkwmd

dS4BNB6sRfkHXLdT

bWL8EA3gykcKJ297

ee4bT9x7hqnwYn6Y

bpm37X3WRJzbetYP

a5BC5M9Wc7DqHTBt

dZBuu2N822TsFnuV

ayXFyz2UpkTt8nxP

bxgLmUd9St9TDZyE

cT84HV9bNDKBTzFB

d2HP73bXDeFzXJ6m

c2DdHmFHTFPndmbz

cK7p6Bb2km9gs9ys

dEkcKKAbqgKrqDSg

fhEphBnfdVDMbFMg

fJLy43hTBdAry8rW

Enjoy!

~~~
davidhperry
Thank you! I used cJe98FeBPxbFKZq8 Now that I've created an account, do they
give me any invites? I'd like to pay it forward. I don't see any invites in
the app.

~~~
frekw
You only get invites is you have a premium account (2-3/month if I recall
correctly).

------
tonyskn
Some invites:

WsGEf4DdjjxxEyte, pJVGUTD4Vjn2LwhJ, fCD4SMwEf7JnwU9r, cmaqdqNDAHxZqYRe,
ar3PMDrRkE22YWbd, dAXVxr4kk5b9NDT8

~~~
hkarthik
Thanks, I used this code fCD4SMwEf7JnwU9r!

------
gage
How is this different from Mog.com or Rdio.com (a service that I have had very
good experiences with)?

------
bennesvig
How is Spotify different from Rdio?

~~~
sahadeva
1\. Spotify has a slightly larger selection (8.5mm tracks on Rdio, 13mm on
Spotify)

2\. Rdio has a killer web app so you can login to your account from any
computer (great for parties and traveling). Both have desktop and mobile apps.

3\. Spotify has higher bitrate (320) on pro accounts and uses p2p and other
tech to do things like pre-cache songs it thinks you're going to listen to so
they play instantly when you click on them

4\. I haven't used spotify much, but Rdio's social features seem more fluid
and their collaborative playlist feature is awesome

See more discussion at Quora: [http://www.quora.com/How-do-Rdio-and-Spotify-
compare?q=spoti...](http://www.quora.com/How-do-Rdio-and-Spotify-
compare?q=spotify+rdio)

~~~
bennesvig
Thanks!

------
tonyskn
Some more invites:

bzT2PnaZUAAs9xxC

aEtYHuB2rcwgwMbS

dP98kyRETzZE7Wzx

ddcqwqVcaUEkaB7b

eseskmGpLmP7kM2E

bWTbxCUWSmgBMDkf

dPACYNXp7tRZ8kFz

cnSP2HH4HrA7EMLR

bw4GwWWfu65ZasuE

bCtf4mVwsn3XHqXW

arkg5rSX4DYLkWxN

cWLrMKFNXr9NAecu

aM8DtNHMcmsCfH4R

aKcRg8U8k36Ug4LT

bPq8eCGwRPALLnhm

azKVcqXuha9uZz69

eBSf3JWH5rzy6HBg

~~~
bengl3rt
Used azKVcqXuha9uZz69. Thanks!

------
pitdesi
Here's my free passalong for free invites, it should work:
[http://klout.com/perk/Spotify/SpotifyFreeAccounts?passalong=...](http://klout.com/perk/Spotify/SpotifyFreeAccounts?passalong=MzEvNjE4MS8y&passalongSig=c64b71d04ff94ff3df782ecdd95d6e6cc029589aa9158032a05531d8e4ced111)

First thought: How is this any different from Grooveshark (from a user
experience perspective - I know Grooveshark doesn't give a shit about artists
rights etc).

Edit: So far, search on Spotify is much faster, but the music library is
nowhere near as complete... and I like that in Grooveshark when I search for a
song I can see other peoples playlists that it shows up in and play those.

~~~
invisible
Grooveshark does care about artist's rights tremendously (just a few
examples):

<http://www.grooveshark.com/labellist>

[http://blog.grooveshark.com/post/7090813892/grooveshark-
anno...](http://blog.grooveshark.com/post/7090813892/grooveshark-announces-
new-label-partnerships)

[http://blog.grooveshark.com/post/7543767530/breakthroughradi...](http://blog.grooveshark.com/post/7543767530/breakthroughradio)

<http://artists.grooveshark.com/>

~~~
earbitscom
They care about THEIR artists' rights, and by that I mean that they only care
after an artist comes to them and agrees to their license. Until then, they'll
play that artist and claim DMCA, even though it should be very straight
forward to ensure this music doesn't end up on their platform.

~~~
invisible
From what I know, music rights are a lot more complicated than you may
realize. That's not to say labels shouldn't get compensated, simply that
things aren't ever as cut and dry as they may seem.

