Spotify: The future of music?

A recent article on WIRED about Spotify is very interesting. Spotify is a streaming music service has been operating in Europe for a year. It offers around 6 millions tracks, which is pretty impressive, and it will soon be coming to the US.

Similar services (Napster, Emusic et al.) have tried this subscription method providing music, and have been largely unsuccessful. Spotify works by offering a free, ad-supported option, and a premium, 10€/month option.

In the past, the subscription model has not interested me - I don't want to pay for limited access to music, I want to own it. But something about Spotify seems to work and make more sense. Perhaps it is the promise of those 6 million tracks.

Imagine this as a basis for the future of music availability. What is all the released music in the world were available on a service like Spotify. For a minimum fee (not unlike Netflix) you would have access to everything - from Bach, to Sugababes, to Tuvan throat singers. All the music of the world, accessible on your computer via the internet, without all the problems of having enough hard disk space.

You wouldn't have to worry about rights, or ownership issues, because it would all be available remotely. You could create a library of your favourite albums and songs. An über playlist, if you like. You'd access it from your phone, your laptop, and connected device. Whatever you want, whenever you want it.

Of course, to have this for free would be fantastic, but a minimal monthly fee with benefits would be acceptable.

I think this would transform the way we 'use' music in a good way. It's not dissimilar from visiting a friend with a huge music collection, discovering new music, and being able to listen to it whenever you want. THis is surely much better than ripping CDs, downloading torrents, installing into iTunes libraries, copying and backing up to disks, synchronising with iPods and iPhones.

All the music, all the time, whenever, wherever.

That could be the future of music.