The Spotify audio streaming service lets you listen to music for free and legally. Now this unique service is available not only in America, but also in most European countries, a number of Asian countries, New Zealand and Australia.
From the history of the Spotify service
This music service became the first of its kind, there are not very many analogues to it today. It allows you to listen to music compositions in the free style without downloading them to your computer, that is, online: almost like a radio. The entire Spotify service is compatible with a variety of devices and major operating systems, and allows users to use some of their entertainment systems as well. Using the search function, you can find:
- specific performers;
- playlists;
- music albums.
Within Spotify, the user is able to create, modify, edit playlists, and also share them with their friends around the world. Three tens of millions of songs are available for the service. And their number is growing day by day. According to Spotify, more than 150 million people are registered on this system, almost half of the users use the services on a paid basis.
In the spring of 2018, the creators of Spotify announced their intention to make the system a public company. Trading in shares began almost immediately after registration. The total capitalization of the company was more than $ 23 million.
Geography of Spotify
Spotify's geographic reach is impressive. The service is available in the markets of 65 countries around the planet. The expansion began in 2008. Then Spotify could be used in the Scandinavian countries, Spain and France. In 2009, the United Kingdom was added to these countries. A little later, the following joined the system:
- Netherlands;
- USA;
- Belgium;
- Austria;
- Switzerland.
A year later, music via Spotify began to be listened to in Germany, New Zealand, Luxembourg, Ireland, Australia.
Then came the turn of Poland, Italy, Mexico, Portugal, Malaysia, Singapore, Lithuania, Latvia, Greece, Argentina. Listen to music via Spotify in China, Brazil, Canada, Japan, Indonesia and the Philippines. In 2017, Thailand joined the list of countries participating in this music carnival.
By 2014, Spotify was ready to conquer Russia, to which the service's fame had sunk. The founders of the company even managed to register a legal entity in the Russian Federation, which was named OOO Spotify. However, the launch of the project, scheduled for the first half of 2015, has not yet taken place. The plans were intervened by the economic crisis that spread throughout Russia. As one of the leading Spotify managers noted, Russian consumers are not too used to paying for music content.
However, domestic Internet users enjoy listening to music in the popular streaming mode. The VKontakte network has taught Russians to do this. Today, for the success of the project in Russia, Spotify will have to demonstrate that this service has advantages over its competitors. In June 2018, it was known that the Spotify service team had once again begun preparations for the launch of its branch in Russia. Perhaps, domestic music lovers will not have long to wait for the arrival of the popular service.
Characteristics and features of the Spotify service
The developers of the streaming service used the Spotify Model framework to scale the fundamentals of music listening software.
Long-term experiments were carried out on this model within the company. The result is a software product built on well-defined strategies, principles of collaboration and roles. Experts believe that interactions within a program are designed and structured in an original way.
The service has provided three streaming bitrates, each of which is able to successfully compete with the alternative parameters of other services.
Sound parameters and quality:
- Normal (96 Kbps);
- High (160 Kbps);
- Extreme (320 Kbps).
How to use the Spotify service
The fact that the popular music service has not yet taken root in Russia does not mean that it is impossible to use it here.
You need to use a VPN to connect to Spotify. For this purpose, many applications have been invented that can be used for personal computers and smartphones.
When people talk about VPN, they mean virtual private networks that run on top of the global network. Therefore, you can connect to them from anywhere. Using a VPN is easy; it is not prohibited by Russian law. Virtual private networks are widely used by government and commercial structures. For this, a VPN server is used on one of the local computers or in the data center. It is connected to it via a VPN client on the user's device. As a result, it turns out that the user visits the site of the same Spotify service from another country. For example, from Germany or Sweden.
Open the Spotify website, launch the corresponding app. Register in it. Study the user manual and become familiar with the controls of the application. That's enough to get you started using Spotify. When you are sure that the music is playing, you can turn off the VPN. The service will decide that you, relatively speaking, have gone on vacation and are resting outside your country. In this case, access to content will not be disabled for you.
After two weeks, you will see a warning that you have been out of the country for too long. This problem can be easily eliminated: you need to connect to the VPN again, enter your username and password, and then calmly listen to your favorite tunes again.
Keep in mind that Spotify is a partially paid subscription service. Therefore, you will need to spend money to access the full range of services (premium). The cost of a standard package varies from country to country, but on average costs a client about $ 7-8. A premium subscription can be more expensive.
The easiest way to pay for such a subscription is via PayPal. Register an account there and link your bank card to it. In your account, indicate that you are a resident of Europe, if this does not contradict the real state of affairs. If you actually spend a significant part of your time in Europe or the USA, then you don't have to come up with anything superfluous.
Registering with Spotify and Starting the System
Registration in the service will seem simple to you. Navigate to the home page of the music service using your favorite web browser. Click on the green button that says "Free to use".
Enter your details by filling in the appropriate fields (email address, password for the music service, username, date of birth, gender).
The user has the opportunity to use the data from his account on the social network Facebook for registration.
Check the box next to "I am not a robot". You will find this window at the bottom of the page. It is possible that the system will offer to pass an additional test for "humanity" and select several images on a specific topic.
Click the "Register" button at the bottom of the page. Your Spotify account has been successfully created. Customize your avatar.
Download and install the app using the links on the Spotify page.
To launch Spotify, click on the icon that looks like a green circle with horizontal black lines. On the computer, you need to double-click on the shortcut.
Log in to the service with your name (email address) and password. The main page will immediately open, where you can search and listen to your favorite songs.
Start acquaintance with the service. Recommended artists, most popular playlists, new music, and other materials that you will probably be interested in will appear on the home page.
