Spotify, a popular European music service with plans to take over the U.S. digital music market, said it completed the necessary licenses with major record labels to launch its service in America on Thursday.
Media fans have awaited this news for quite some time, since the company announced over a year ago its plans to cross the Atlantic. But its entry has been weighed down by negotiations with music labels that have been cautious about opening up the world's largest and most lucrative music market to the young start-up. Spotify landed its last deal, with Warner Music Group, just this week.
Spotify's offerings will be very similar to what it has in Europe, essentially a free service supported by ads and two premium tiers that let users listen without ads on computers as well as mobile devices, the Los Angeles Times reports.
The free tier allows new users listen to the company's catalog of over 15 million songs from a computer connection for six months. Following that period, users will be limited to 10 hours per month and up to five plays for any particular song.
"You can still discover as much music as you want up to your heart’s content" even with the limits, said Ken Parks, Spotify's chief content officer and managing director of the company's North American business.
Subscribers paying $4.99 a month can access the service without ads or limitations from a computer connection. The next level, for $9.99 a month, also lets users listen to the service from a smart phone such as an iPhone, Android, Palm or Windows 7 device.
