The demand caused by the launch of the mobile apps has determined Spotify to temporarily revert to invites

Sep 11, 2009 10:17 GMT  ·  By
The demand caused by the launch of the mobile apps determined Spotify to temporarily revert to invites
   The demand caused by the launch of the mobile apps determined Spotify to temporarily revert to invites

Spotify is building up a lot of hype ahead of the upcoming US launch, but, so far, most of it has been well deserved, succeeding, to some degree, where many other music-streaming services have not. It recently launched an Apple iPhone app, as well as a similar one for Android phones and, apparently, the demand they created put such a strain on the system, that Spotify has had to revert to an invite system for new users in the UK.

“I wanted to quickly let everyone know that due to the huge demand in the UK over the last few days since we launched our mobile service, we are going to have to temporarily reinstate our invite system in the UK. We are invite-only in all our other launch countries but we hope to be able to remove the need for an invite again very soon. Premium users will of course still get instant access as per usual and all current users will be able to use Spotify as normal!,” Spotify's Andres Sehr wrote on the company's blog.

So, what's an interested perspective user to do? Well, any friend with a Spotify account could come in real handy about now. There is also a number of them floating around on the Internet, if you can track them down. Or just get in line with everyone else and sign up on the waiting list. Of course, coincidently, Spotify just happens to have a Premium service that doesn't need any kind of invitation or waiting in line, just your credit card.

The Premium offering allows you to access the mobile apps, gets rid of ads in the program and the streaming and also gets rid of that £9.99 you've been itching to take out of your pocket every month. In all fairness, the mobile apps were met with almost universal praise and it's very likely that a great number of new users has been persuaded to give the service a try. If they were that many that Spotify, which already has around two million users in the UK, couldn't handle, only the company really knows.