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Spotify Gets Sean Parker’s Approval…In a Big Way

It’s always interesting when past voices in a particular area talk about the up and coming, brand new thing. It was interesting when MySpace’s Tom Anderson discussed Google+ shortly after ...
Spotify Gets Sean Parker’s Approval…In a Big Way
Written by Josh Wolford
  • It’s always interesting when past voices in a particular area talk about the up and coming, brand new thing. It was interesting when MySpace’s Tom Anderson discussed Google+ shortly after it launched. And today, it is even more interesting to read what Sean Parker has to say about Spotify.

    Of course, you know Justin Timberlake Sean Parker, right? Mr. Napster. I thank Sean Parker every night in my prayers for allowing me to be the cool kid in middle school with all the bitchin’ tunes. Seriously.

    On the American launch day of the previously Euro-limited streaming music service Parker wrote a Facebook note that could be described as “excited.”

    Absolutely beside himself with excitement, more like it.

    Check out his note, in its entirety below –

    My thoughts on Spotify launch…

    Today represents the realization of a dream. For a decade I have waited for a music service that could rekindle my excitement about music by enabling music to be shared freely across the world — all the while empowering artists to reap the economic benefits of selling their music.

    Spotify is the service I have been waiting for.

    Since Napster the recorded music business has been steadily declining and, until now, there has been no light at the end of the tunnel. Today’s historic announcement marks the reversal of this downward trend and the beginning of a return to growth by the recorded music business.

    Spotify promises to get people excited about music again, and the result will be a new golden age of music–more people discovering and listening to more music than ever before. Spotify is removing the barriers to sharing music with friends so that music can move freely and find its fans organically. In this hyper-efficient system great music will find its natural audience. This means that more artists will find success, more fans will discover them, and artists will make more money selling their music than they thought possible. The rusty gears of the record business will turn again.

    Since Spotify takes music viral, listening to music online is finally going to be a social experience. (Just like it’s always been offline.) And by making music social the experience of discovering and listening to new music will be more fun than ever before. While Spotify can be downloaded and used or free on the desktop, users of Spotify will need to purchase content when they want to take music with them “on the go” via their iPod or iPhone. In this sense, Spotify is the answer to piracy: migrating millions of piracy-based music fans to a legitimate platform where their consumption of music can be monetized and the artists who dedicate their lives to creating music can finally get paid.

    So, Parker thinks that Spotify is not only a wonderful, fun, smooth experience, but that it also the savior of the music industry. Parker also hits the point that stood out too me when I first got my hands on Spotify – the social presence. Spotify truly wants its service to be about sharing – from the integration with Facebook and Twitter to the “gifting” of songs to friends.

    But is it the answer to piracy, as Parker says?

    I don’t know about all that.

    Check out my hands-on first look at Spotify here.

    [Hat tip to Tech Crunch]

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