Spotify...What an Idea!

Spotify is the newest website out offering music fans a way to stream their favorite music. Users can log in, stream music, and share their favorites with the world. This website is taking off quickly in European countries and is just now making its way to the United States.

For artists, this is a great innovation for them. Spotify offers artists about 1 cent per song streamed, which is better than nothing! Other websites, such as Grooveshark and YouTube do not offer this feature. This is a great alternative to Apple's iTunes, where songs cost a dollar each. I'm sure that artists make more money off of iTunes, but fans do not have to shell out any money for Spotify. Fans can now stream music with no strings attached without feeling like they are committing any crimes.

I checked out Spotify for myself. I'm not able to actually sign up at the moment because I need to be invited by a current member. I'm looking at the features, and it seems like a great service to be a part of:

• Music flowing without an online connection
  
• Ability to listen to songs on your mobile device
• Share music with others
• Create playlists of your favorite songs

We'll see if Spotify catches on. I'm interested in signing up myself and checking it out for real. Information technology is expanding every day. This isn't the first type of music streaming community that we have seen, but it does appear to be the first FREE streaming site that gives money back to artists.