Spotify

Internet music has come a long way since the days of streaming radio stations and Napster. Myspace music was great for start-up and unsigned bands, but no established band wants to let people listen to their music for free. From necessity comes invention, and the first great (legal) music behemoth was iTunes, with it’s 99-cent per song deals and gigantic database. Then, internet music in the US stalled. While torrenting sites like The Pirate Bay flourished in Europe, lawsuits flew at file-sharing sites in the US like moths to a flame. Pandora came along to introduce users to new music like the music they liked, but it wasn’t what people wanted. People want to listen to the music they want to listen to without having to buy it, and have that be legal. Spotify came in to save the day- a gigantic internet music streaming library, albeit with some advertising, legally. The prayers of music lovers (almost) everywhere had been answered. Spotify only launched in the US in July, but it has already changed the lives of music lovers for the better.