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Spotify trumpets move to US (and little else)
European invasion
UK-based music-streaming service Spotify has just announced that it's coming to the US.
But that's all we know. The oh-so-popular service has merely thrown up a clickless web page with no information about when they'll be avalable for US listeners, what parts – all? – of its collection will be available in the US, and how much it will cost.
Not a lot of detail – but they do seem rather jazzed about crossing the pond, eh?
Oh, the page lets you enter your email address so that they can spam send you information as it becomes available.
Not a bad couple of weeks for Spotify and its CEO Daniel Ek. As AllThingsD revealed on June 17, the company bagged "around $100 million" from investment/venture firms Digital Sky Technologies, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Beyers, and Accel Partners. The investment round would put Spotify's valuation at around $1bn.
That steaming heap of moola – on paper or otherwise – couldn't have hurt Spotify in its apparently successful negotiations with major recording labels.
And, yes, there have been rumors of Spotify being integrated with Facebook. That might be in the cards in the US, but whether that'll be Spotify's sole US distribution medium seems unlikely.
After all, Zuckerberg has his whole new Skype toy to play with. That should keep him and his 750,000 Facebooking friends occupied for a bit, in any case.
One thing is certain: in the midst of all the talk about music winging its way into the cloud – preceded by an "i" or otherwise – when Spotify comes stateside, the US online-tunes landscape will change, and in a big way. ®