MacKits

Most Americans may not be aware of a free music subscription service that is gaining a lot of attention in Europe. Spotify, originated in Sweden, is that service. Stream music anywhere, anytime, all the time, for free. You can share music with your friends, create custom playlists, listen to new albums, stream to your mobile device from the cloud instantly, all for free. Makes sense that with the few people in the US who know of Spotifys existence cant wait for the service to hit the American part of the Internet. Apple, however, wouldnt exactly like it too much if Spotify came to the American sandbox to play, being that they totally dominate the digital content distribution industry through iTunes. In fact, Cupertino is in the process of explaining to labels why it would be rather difficult to sell something that people could get elsewhere for free legally.

In meetings in Los Angeles recently, Apple executives told their music industry counterparts that they had serious doubts about whether Spotify’s business model could ever generate significant revenues or profits, according to two sources with knowledge of the discussions.

But Apple executives worried about the effects of a free music service might have on the rest of the market. They noted that it’s tough to sell something that someone else is giving away, the sources said. One industry insider said it is only logical that if Spotify were allowed to launch a free-music service here, at a time when Nielsen recently reported that the growth of digital sales has flattened out, it could eat into the businesses of proven revenue-producers like Apple and Amazon.

The Scandinavians have already pushed back their US launch twice having failed to come to an agreement with record companies. Currently, they are pushing for a date at the end of the year to officially venture on the American landscape. Spotify is currently solely available in Europe and mostly used in the United Kingdom, France and Spain, three of the most major sections in the European market. They recently released an iOS application to use their services on iOS devices. However, the service isn’t here in the States, so the app would be frivolous.

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