This article was published on March 26, 2013

LG to add Spotify’s music streaming service to all of its upcoming smart media devices


LG to add Spotify’s music streaming service to all of its upcoming smart media devices

LG has revealed today 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.

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, tied to their Spotify account 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, which also provides unlimited access to the firm’s various mobile apps, ad-free streaming and enhanced audio quality.

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Subscribers will be able to listen to Spotify’s existing music library, now boasting over 20 million tracks, as well as Spotify Radio for automatically generated playlists related to a specific genre or artist.

There’s no detail yet on which LG hardware will support the service, although the company has detailed the BH9530TW, a 9.1 channel home cinema system, as a notable example.

Similar to other TV manufacturers, such as Samsung and Panasonic, LG is partnering with a number of major content providers to bolster 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.

Keen to muscle out rivals Rdio, Deezer and Xbox Music, the streaming service also launched its first-ever advertising campaign, called “For Music”.

It follows a number of other user incentives, such as the removal of the five plays-per-song restriction in the UK, as well a browser-based Web player currently in beta.

For those keeping count, 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.

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