Spotify, the streaming music service that has taken Europe by storm, has amassed more than 7 million tracks and promises to debut in the US in early 2010, once licensing issues are resolved, according to a conversation I had with Shakil Khan the company's professed consigliere at LeWeb yesterday afternoon in Paris. The company has also embraced mobile access to music, delivering both an application for iPhone and Android handsets (the latter updated just yesterday).Shakil even said the company could be ready to launch in the US "tomorrow" if it wasn't for business licensing issues, visas, etc.
I gained access to Spotify in early August, and it's the first streaming music service I have ever really liked, going beyond Pandora, Last.fm, Real Player, Napster or any of the others. Once the service hits the US, and I get hold of the iPhone app as well, I could be able to listen to my playlists or selected tracks anywhere, even when offline, thanks to the company storing some songs locally on both the PC and the handset.
Today, Om Malik of GigaOM asks, "How Hot Is Spotify?". Be sure you check out his summary. I have embedded my quick conversation with Shakil below, made via CinchCast. Enjoy.