Something strange has happened to my last.fm profile. Once strictly the domain of tasteful, mainly Scottish indie music, it’s recently been invaded by bad 80’s rock and a bunch of mainstream synth-pop and hip-hop classics. I’m not ashamed to admit I enjoy listening to this kind of stuff, but the fact is I don’t even own a single mp3 by Del Amitri or Charles & Eddie – I’ve been enjoying their music completely free on Spotify.
As it’s still in beta it’s only available by invitation in the UK at the moment, which makes a change seeing as we’re usually the last to receive such goodies (e.g. the excellent free tv streaming service Hulu, which is only available in the US).
But this time we’re getting the chance to get involved a little earlier than usual, and last week The Guardian were raving about the service and gave out a url where you could sign up and be an early adopter. Unlike most similar services Spotify is totally legal and has an astounding selection of music though inevitably you can’t get everything.
The free version does have an advert every 20 minutes or so but as horrible as this may sound, compared to commercial radio or even the BBC’s irritating self-promotional trailers they are far less annoying and if you really can’t stand them you can pay a tenner a month for ad-free streaming.
Anyway, for listening to music you don’t necessarily wish to buy or download and cluttering up your flat or hard drive it’s essential, and if you do sign up, you can add my playlist below which features an incredibly eclectic mix that I promise will astound you. Also please leave me a link to your playlists in the comments so I can check it out!
Sign up to Spotify (UK only)
Add my “Wash your mouth out with soap and water you tart!” Playlist
Clear-Minded Creative 