Spotify's Free Music Deal Ending Next Week
Spotify's Free Music Deal Ending Next Week
Posted 01/06/2012 at 2:35pm
| by Ryan Whitwam
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When Spotify arrived in the U.S., there was such fanfare that one part of the rollout plan was largely ignored. That free Spotify playback on the desktop enjoyed by so many users was only set to last for six months, and next week is Spotify’s six-month anniversary in the U.S. market. When that sweetheart licencing arrangement is up, free Spotify accounts are going to be much more locked down.
The current unlimited playback with ads is going to be reduced to a maximum of 10 hours per month. Users will also only be allowed to queue up a single track five times in a month. Anyone that wants to keep listening to unlimited tunes will have to upgrade to one of the paid accounts. $5 a month gets you unlimited music on the desktop, and $10 per-month is required for mobile access to Spotify.
Spotify has experienced scrutiny for its small payouts to independent artists, Facebook tie-in, and licensing deals. It’s unclear if the free listeners will be willing to pay for access to something they got for free these last six months.
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zepontiff
January 09, 2012 at 12:58pm
Spotify on the desktop performs pretty crappily. Also the mobile app on my droid constantly is syncing offline tracks. Its a POS. Thinking i'm just ripping high quality off my old cds and going with google.
kevaskous
January 06, 2012 at 10:18pm
Uninstalled, unimpressed, not worth the time to make the account tbh.
Shalbatana
January 06, 2012 at 3:25pm
I haven't used it for more than 3 hours of music a month (yet it is my only music service). That said it doesn't make sense for me to get a subscription. Additionally, 10 hours a month seems like a lot to someone like me.
I have no problems with this, and if I ever start hitting the wall, I'll be more than happy to pay for a good service like theirs.
Brad Chacos
January 06, 2012 at 2:47pm
That free time hooked me. I plan on signing up for the $10/mo premium plan. I listen to the desktop version all the time now, and adding device/mobile support on top of it seals the deal for me.
BTW, big adverts have been popping up on my Spotify screen the past few days tempting me with a month of free Premium access, so people who don't want to give up the unlimited music but don't want to pay for it either might still be able to squeeze out a little bit more freebie use.
Holly Golightly
January 09, 2012 at 12:20am
Ugh, I can't believe Spotify STILL requires a FaceBook profile to open a premium account. Well, that is fine by me. I used TuneIn Radio since Spotify was initially released in USA. I never looked back. I get no giant pop-ups or giant ads. Heck, I do not even get commercials at all. It is not a bad substitute for Spotify when you consider that it is free. I use it for Android. Not sure if there is a desktop version...
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