spotify

Contrary to a published report, Apple has not talked with Spotify about acquiring the European digital music service, a Spotify spokesman said today.

TechCrunch reported it had received an anonymous tip that Apple had approached Spotify about a possible acquisition. TechCrunch said that it had "dug into" the information and it had checked out.

"Apple and Spotify are in on-again, off-again discussions about an acquisition, but at best it's very early in the process," TechCrunch wrote. "No firm price has been offered, no term sheet tabled. Still, it's interesting that the two are … Read more

commentary If you want to get a sense of both the wishful thinking and the likeliness of dashed dreams for people investing in the digital-music business, click over to your Netflix queue and rent a copy of the 1962 musical "The Music Man."

Humor me here: "The Music Man," first a Broadway play, tells the story of a traveling huckster who convinces people in small towns that he can teach their tin-eared kids to play a musical instrument--all he needs is money to buy their trumpets and whatnot. And what happens once they give him his … Read more

These are some swinging Swedes, the guys at Spotify.

Founded in Stockholm in 2006, Spotify is is an online streaming music service that has already conquered Europe with the help of a revolutionary desktop service and now desperately wants to make the jump to the United States.

And it's probably safe to say many American music fans want that to happen too. Yet, despite immense anticipation for the service here, the company has already failed to meet two promised launch dates. The new self-imposed deadline is for the end of the year. Spotify managers say that by then they'… Read more

All albums eventually come to an end--even super-gonzo triple live CD sets--and the time has come for this blog to end as well.

I've had a great time exploring the intersection of music and technology for the last three-plus years. And even though the music industry is going through some wrenching changes, the public's interest in music has, if anything, gotten stronger.

I was at Coachella this April along with a record sold-out crowd of more than 90,000. Some of them were there for the party, but the musical lineup made the party happen. I've seen … Read more

Microsoft said today that popular European music service Spotify will be coming to Windows Phone 7, as well as Microsoft's older Windows Mobile 6 generation phones.

The move gives Microsoft another music partner as it prepares to launch Windows Phone 7. Start-up Soundtrackr also is readying a Windows Phone 7 application, but, as first reported by CNET, Pandora won't have a Windows Phone 7 app at launch, despite a full-court press from Microsoft's top executives.

"Spotify is a great example of software innovation emanating from Sweden and Europe," Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said in a … Read more

Subscription music pioneer Rhapsody was spun out from joint owners RealNetworks and Viacom in April, and it immediately declared its independence by dropping the price of its mobile service from $15 to $10 per month. Since then, the service has introduced offline playback to its iPhone application--critical, if you want to be able to get the most out of your subscription while on AT&T's notoriously flaky 3G network--and successfully launched an Android version, which will be getting offline playback shortly.

Tomorrow, the company is set to announce that it's moving its streaming service from several data … Read more

Spotify, the European music service that drops the jaws of all who try it, is at risk of blowing another self-imposed deadline for launching in the United States.

While CEO Daniel Ek has promised that Spotify will finally launch before the end of 2010, the company has yet to sign a single licensing agreement with any of the top four record companies, multiple music industry sources told CNET. Sure, Spotify can claim many admirers at the top labels and some progress in the negotiations, but time is running out.

Music licensing deals are complex and typically can't be slapped … Read more

On today's show, Verizon tries to claim the Motorola Droid doesn't have the hardware to support hotspot tethering with Froyo. And here's the thing: that's a lie. In other news, the BlackBerry Torch hits, Rdio lands, and the FBI is cracking down on coloring books. Or something. I'm a tiny bit incoherent today.

I'm a big proponent of cloud-based music services for mobile devices. I struggle figuring out which 500 songs I want on my 8GB iPhone at any given time, and the problem gets worse as as I download more apps. So it's gratifying to see an explosion of mobile music services in the last six months. Start-ups and established companies alike seem to believe that the current model, where users transfer songs from a computer to their phone using a wired connection, is not long for this world. Instead, these companies are coming up with various ways to dispense … Read more