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Question: So, this Spotify thing... How do I land myself an invite?
Answer: Music in the cloud — it’s a lovely thing.
The newest and shiniest of the services is Euro-darling Spotify, which on Thursday made its debut on U.S. shores. People have understandably been hyped on the service and what it’s capable of: You can play your favorite music from any computer selecting from a really large and impressive database of songs. The interface itself is blazingly fast, and it even syncs with Facebook so that you can trade playlists with your friends. Best of all, it’s all in the cloud, saving you valuable hard drive space.
(MORE: Five Cool Websites for New Spotify Users)
Now, there are a couple of ways to begin using the service right away if you didn’t receive an invite (so don’t feel slighted!).
1. You can pony up for one of their listening plans and bypass having to wait for an invite. The Unlimited plan starts at a reasonable $4.99 per month, and a Premium version is available for $9.99 per month, which lets you use the service on your mobile device. When you pay for the service you won’t be subjected to any advertisements. Plus, when you consider the fact that a typical album costs around $10 on iTunes or Amazon, then paying $9.99 for access to nearly any song, anywhere sounds like a pretty good deal.
2. Business Insider found a loophole for U.S. visitors that tricks the system into thinking you’re a U.K. user (where Spotify is already available to everyone). You’ll need a U.K.-based proxy (such as: http://www.daveproxy.co.uk), then you’ll need to enter in this URL to request an invite: (https://www.spotify.com/int/invitation/). Go to Business Insider for a comprehensive walkthrough.
3. Spotify also has a number of partners you can go through to snag an invite. Here’s one from Coca-Cola. Social metric service Klout also has their own you can use. You’ll be ushered through some extra online paperwork, but it’s pretty quick and you should be able to hop aboard. Once you’re there, Spotify’s a slam dunk.
MORE: Spotify Free Music Service Launches in U.S.
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