Can a browser-based Spotify conquer online music?

The music-streaming juggernaut is about to offer a service letting its millions of users listen to songs via their web browsers — directly challenging Pandora

Spotify founders Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon: The music streaming app will soon be making the jump from your desktop to your browser.
(Image credit: Spotify)

Since launching in the U.S. last year, online music-streaming service Spotify has been on a roll. While Apple's iTunes is the undisputed champ of online music sales, and browser-based streaming services like Pandora, Rdio, and MOG are also popular, Spotify has carved out an impressive niche for itself. And now, with 15 million users — 4 million of whom pay either $5 or $10 a month — and a popular Facebook app, Spotify, which essentially lets users search for, listen to, and share any song they want to, is reportedly preparing to launch a web-based version. Given its fast growth and enviable buzz, is Spotify poised to vanquish its online music rivals?

Spotify is ready to conquer the (music-streaming) world: It's been a "blockbuster" year for Spotify, but being tied to a desktop app is confining, and the app's music-discovery options are "pretty crummy," says Josh Constine at TechCrunch. The web service, if done right, should fix that. That's bad news for Rdio, with its smaller user base, and Pandora, which is already competing with Spotify's radio service. "Unshackling from the desktop and offering access to nearly every song in the world from anywhere in the world" should have "Spotify running away with the race."

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