3 buys into music streaming service
INQ chairman joins board
By Carrie-Ann Skinner | PC Advisor | Published: 09:36, 24 August 2009
Hutchison Whampoa, owner of mobile network 3, has boought into music streaming site Spotify.
According to Forbes, chairman of Hutchinson Li Ka-Shing has revealed that Hutchinson's place on Spotify's board would be occupied by INQ chairman Frank Meehan.
This is fuelling rumours that the music streaming service may integrated into INQ‘s handsets.
Spotify lets users create a playlist of songs for free, although tracks are peppered with adverts just like commercial radio.
However, for 99p, Spotify users can purchase a whole day of ad-free listening time, or alternatively pay a £10 monthly subscription and never hear an advert again.
The service also allows users to create 'collaborative' playlists, which are assigned their own web addresses, and can then be added to by other Spotify listeners.
Spotify is currently seeking approval from Apple for an app for the iPhone. The company has also demoed an app for mobile phone running Google Android, which will let users listen to tracks on their handset. However, Spotify hasn't said when this app will be made available.
Droidify, an unofficial Spotify app, was made available last week, but was quickly pulled after it emerged that the app infringed Spotify's deal with record labels.
