Spotify

(By Richard Holway 5.00pm 16th March 09) Those who attended my “State of the ICT Nation” presentation last Sept, atop BT Tower for The Prince’s Trust Technology Leadership Group, will remember me forecasting the advent of the virtual jukebox. Having to load my complete music collection onto a variety of devices is a bit tedious in the days the Cloud. Why can’t I put all my music in the Cloud and play it “Anytime, anywhere and from any device”? I gave the example of getting into my car shouting ‘Brown Sugar’ and immediately the Rolling Stones would be streamed to my car.

The concept came a step closer – actually became reality in my home – with the phenomenal take up of Spotify. It was only launched last month but already 250,000 people on the UK have signed up. And Spotify is British!

Spotify is basically a virtual jukebox with ‘millions’ of tracks. You cannot download them – you just stream them and listen to them in real time. You can compile ‘play lists’ though. At the moment it is probably only of real use on a broadband connection – not yet viable via cellular but works well over a public WiFi connection. The revenue model is interesting too. The ‘free’ version interrupts your listening every 20 minutes with an advertisement break. You can pay £9.99 a month and get the service advert free.

Sad person that I am, I often use Youtube as a virtual jukebox for tracks I don’t have in my own collection. Youtube has its own problems with performing rights at the moment which means that many tracks have been removed in the UK. Spotify might well be ‘seizing the moment’.

I am convinced that mobile speeds will soon enable virtual jukeboxes ‘on the move’. That would be an enormous breakthrough.

Footnote – My “State of the ICT Nation” presentation for The Prince’s Trust Technology Leadership Group this year is on 21st Sept. Please make a note in your diaries. Invitations out soon – same price as last year ie £1250 per ticket.