What is "spotify"

Spotify is a Swedish music, podcast, and video streaming service that provides digital rights management–protected content from record labels and media companies. It is available in most of the Americas, Europe, and some countries in Asia and Oceania. Music can be browsed or searched by artist, album, genre, playlist, or record label. Spotify was launched in September 2008 by Swedish startup Spotify AB. As of June 2016 Spotify had more than 100 million active users and about half a billion registered users. The number of paid subscribers reached 30 million in March 2016. Spotify Ltd. operates as the parent company, headquartered in London, while Spotify AB handles research and development in Stockholm.

, Spotify provides access to over 30 million songs, with more music being added approximately every day including albums, EPs, and singles. Users can search for artists, albums, titles, labels and genres, and access songs from both major and independent labels. Some artists decided to opt out of Spotify. Additionally, some artists withdrew from specific regions because of licensing restrictions. The desktop app allows music to be imported from iTunes, while the main three apps ( iOS, Android, and Desktop) allows downloading songs to listen to offline. Users can download songs up to three devices with a song limit of 3,333 with a total track limit of 9,999 if the device song limit is reached on each device. Users can create and share playlists, or edit them together with other users by making that playlist a collaborative playlist.

Websites, blogs, and 3rd-party applications and tools support Spotify. Community resources include Facebook, Twitter bots and user forums, and tools to display lyrics and services to list and notify users about new releases. In 2010, Spotify's blog, The Pansentient League, held the first Spotify Community Site Awards, with categories such as Best Playlist Sharing Site, Best News & Music Finder Site, and Best Playlist Generator. Spotify allows users to integrate their account with existing Facebook and Twitter accounts. Thereafter they are able to access their friends'/follower's favorite music and playlists.

Spotify, together with the music streaming industry in general, faces some criticism from artists claiming they are not being fairly compensated for their work as downloaded music sales decline and music streaming increases. Unlike physical or download sales, which pay a fixed price per song or album, Spotify pays artists based on their "market share" (the number of streams for their songs as a proportion of total songs streamed on the service). They distribute approximately 70% to rights-holders, who will then pay artists based on their individual agreements. The variable, and some say inadequate, nature of this compensation, has led to criticism. Spotify reports paying on average US$0.006 to US$0.008 per stream. In response, Spotify claims that they are benefiting the music business by migrating "them away from piracy and less monetised platforms and allowing them to generate far greater royalties than before" by encouraging users to use their paid service.