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Home / Sponsored Stories

Spark: How to put 30 million songs in your pocket

6 Apr, 2016 05:00 PM
Spotify brings unlimited access to 30 million songs that you can access from your mobile phone. Photo / Thinkstock

Spotify brings unlimited access to 30 million songs that you can access from your mobile phone. Photo / Thinkstock

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It's called Spotify, it's how everyone is listening to music - and it has "your" song on it. Remember? The one that makes you and your partner smile across a crowded room at each other, the song that led to something.

"You'll hear the word 'Spotify' thrown around at parties or weekend sports matches, says Simon Neal, Spark's Product and Proposition Manager. "That's because 100 million users (30 million of them premium subscribers) are singing the praises of this cloud music service allowing access to those 30 million digital songs.

"It's like Daniel Ek said [the founder of Spotify]: 'With Spotify, people don't get it until they try it. Then they tell their friends'."

It's in your pocket because the Spotify app is on your phone everywhere you go. The premium version (usually $12.99 per month) is included free if you are one of many eligible Spark mobile customers. The deluxe version has no ads, enhanced sound quality and full access to those 30 million songs whenever and wherever you want.

No CD players, iPods, record players, tape decks required - and no confusing instruction manuals to set up the hardware (there isn't any); no need to ask your teenage son to set it up when the manual defeats you.

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The other reason everyone's talking about it is because it has completely changed the way people listen to music, the next great musical revolution.

"First it was vinyl and the jukebox, then cassette tapes, the integrated stereo, then CDs," says Neal. Now we have access to music 24/7.

"It is so amazingly handy - either for personal listening or for playing to a group, at a party or a dinner party, as it is so easy to connect your phone to a stereo system."

Yet, as Neal says, in spite of those 100 million users and in spite of Spotify's global popularity, many New Zealanders are unaware of the massive hidden musical library they carry everywhere with them.

"I guess the easiest way to describe it is to think about back in the day, when we slaved over creating the ultimate mix tape," he says. "Now we can do that at the touch of a phone - and it's so easy to use."

Here's how it works. Download the software app and start streaming music to your phone or laptop. That old school Bon Jovi track you danced to on Friday night? It's on Spotify. What about that live version of Tears for Fears you love but nobody else seems to know? It's on Spotify. Songs from your wedding day. Songs from your breakups - and makeups. Songs from when the children were toddlers. They're all on Spotify.

Check out the browse playlist feature. There are playlists curated by music lovers; there's a Summer Party playlist, Ultimate Country and Weekend Hangout. Last month, they even launched a playlist of songs to help women in labour.

As for the albums you already have on your computer in iTunes, you're one click away from synching that library with Spotify. Save that guilty pleasure ('Islands in the Stream'!) to your phone and it will also be saved to your laptop and iPad.

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"We are really talking about endless access to music," says Neal. "In the past you may have only owned, for example, Queen's Greatest Hits. With Spotify you can listen to every song Queen ever made - on your phone from the beach, bach or office."

Another key benefit is Spotify's Discover Weekly Playlist. You don't even have to worry how it works. Simply listen to your favourite songs for a week; Spotify automatically creates an assortment of tracks you might enjoy, based on previous choices.

Spotify Radio works similarly. Let's say you want to listen to 'Dreams' by Fleetwood Mac. Type the song into the Radio menu. Spotify will create a non-stop playlist based on 'Dreams,' an assortment of tracks you're likely to love just as much.

"Spotify brings unlimited access to the best songs of all time," says Neal "It has classic hits for 50th birthdays, ballads from your wedding day, Bruce Springsteen's B-sides before you head out to his concert - how cool to be the DJ at your daughter's 21st..."

Check to see if Spotify is already part of your Spark plan here. Then donate your mix tape to TePapa - because you're already in the future.

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