14 DAY TRIAL // Spotify launching in the US is closer to being a reality than it has ever been, it now has deals with three of the four major labels. Anyone following Spotify's struggle to cross the Atlantic knows that it's been a long fight.
Now that Universal Music Group is on board, Spotify only has to sign Warner Music Group and the discussions are pretty advanced on that front as well.
According to All Things D, Spotify now has deals with Universal, Sony Music Entertainment and EMI. Once it gets Warner, it will be ready to launch, though it may still take a while to wrap up all of the other details.
Considering that it's been almost two years since rumors of Spotify launching in the US started popping up and that there have been several times when the company was said to be very close to launch, reaching this stage, even if nothing is confirmed yet, must be a relief for the company.
Spotify has been very popular in the European countries it's available in, but the big goal has always been the US, by far the largest potential market in terms of users and revenue alike.
The record labels didn't want to allow Spotify to stream music for free in the US like it does in Europe, they wanted only paid-for subscriptions. This was the biggest sore spot for the companies involved and it held back talks for more than a year.
Spotify didn't want to let go of its free offering, since it is this that helped it conquer the European markets.
But the company has been neutering the free product for the past few months to the point where anyone that actually wants to listen to music on Spotify, not just discover new stuff, will have to pay up.
This may be the reason why the labels are finally on board, or it may be that Spotify relented and will launch the service on different terms in the US. Whatever the case, we should find out soon enough.