LG to add Spotify music streaming service to smart media products

PanARMENIAN.Net - LG has revealed that Spotify’s on-demand music streaming service will be supported on all of its smart media products released this year, including Blu-ray players and Blu-ray Home Cinema Systems, The Next Web reports.

In addition, LG says users in the United States, Europe, Australia and New Zealand will be able to download the Spotify app to “a selection” of existing hardware with Internet access next month.

Music enthusiasts will need a premium subscription, however, with Spotify in order to access the service. New customers can sign up to a one month free trial, after which they’ll need to agree to the $9.99 monthly plan.

Those who do decide to splash out on a subscription will be able to listen to Spotify’s existing music library, now boasting over 20 million tracks, as well as Spotify Radio for a selection of songs related to a specific genre or artist.

Similar to other TV manufacturers, such as Samsung and Panasonic, LG is going to great lengths to partner with major content providers for its smart platform. Spotify will be joining BBC iPlayer, on-demand TV and movie services Netflix and LOVEFiLM, as well as social media services such as YouTube, Facbook and Twitter.

Spotify has also teamed up with Microsoft and music intelligence firm The Echo Nest to launch a new visual tool called Mixshape, which can automatically organize playlists based on the genre and ‘mood’ of individual tracks.

For those keeping count, TNW says, Spotify now has in excess of 24 million active users, with more than 6 million paying subscribers. Since launch, Spotify claims it has paid out more than $500 million to rights-holders.