Spotify launches in the US

[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.

[estel]

Edit 1736: removed all the used ones

Edit 1740: all gone.

[eonwe]

In case invites are still of use, I created a few at http://eonwe.luno.fi/spotify_invites

[ropiku]

Here's some more invites: ftmp68XgaXYwmBS7 bbbqsYPhWZ9Zrk4s fCnwmdMS9NRWDLHA aVJqbgCMMxR4LUgs cMusg9KWkeqzV7Fq

[rglover]

I'd love an invite if you have one.

[saroz]

Can you send me one ?

Thanks

[tartuffe78]

can i get one? email in profile

Thanks, would really like to try it out

[vitobcn]

I'd love one too. Thanks!

[CrazedGeek]

Yes, please! Email's in profile.

Edit: Thank you so very much!

[joshfinnie]

edit: Thanks.

[jtdgrz]

edit: thanks

[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.

[thecoffman]

Awesome - thanks! Used this one: faFWVKqrpxenRBdJ

[vito]

Thanks! Used axpxx3axYK3D4M2R

[throwaway1826]

used this one: cCes6dAxcXAgnnSV major thanks, chap!

[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/

[mrhlee]

Thanks, I used fG7GsqbFsBaE2knG

[alexgaribay]

dHuPEYSSLCHNgGS6 used. Thanks so much!

[webspiderus]

a9LXkhTx4YdTkP4a used. Thanks!

[VeryStuck]

fBtbsnyhR7Sw3k3B used. Thanks!

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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

[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?

[mikemaccana]

> Does anyone have a guess as to why they are doing an "invite only" style opening here in the US?

They're not - you can pay for a premium or unlimited subscription right now. I've just purchased one for my brother in NY, so I can share playlists with him from London.

[tommi]

It certainly is a marketing tactic but it can also be more. Spotify is based on P2P-tech and maybe they want to slowly ramp up the network.

[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.

[earbitscom]

It's not just to create scarcity, but for people who want to try it and aren't creative enough to go find an invite, it probably means higher conversion into paid subscriptions.

[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?

[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.

[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

[sssparkkk]

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

[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.

[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...

[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.