French dance music duo Daft Punk have seen their new comeback song Get Lucky break all previous records for a single track on streaming service Spotify.

Though Spotify have yet to reveal the precise number of plays the track attracted, they have confirmed that the uber-cool robot team's new track has overtaken previous record holders Bastille, whose song Pompeii previously held the record for the most streamed track in the UK, while the US record was held by rapper Macklemore for the Thrift Song track.

"There was never any doubt that the first original single from Daft Punk in years was going to be one of the biggest debut singles of 2013," said Spotify's Will Hope, director of label relations.

"We expect the album to become one of the biggest, if not the biggest, on Spotify this year."

Get Lucky, pulled from Daft Punk's forthcoming Random Access Memories album, was so hotly anticipated that it inspired remixers to splice together 15-second teaser clips into complete tracks ahead of the eventual official release.

Keeping with the tech/Daft Punk associated news, N*E*R*D's Pharrell Williams, vocalist on Get Lucky, performed the new Daft Punk single three times in a row at the HTC One launch in Brooklyn over the weekend. You can watch the performance (three times in a row, if you like) in the video below:

Grand Theft Auto games usually hit the headlines due to their violent (if often humorous) depictions of crime. What's less often appreciated is just how great the soundtracks are; from the in-car talk radio stations to the lengthy playlists of licensed tracks, the games are often filled with songs on the bleeding edge of cool.

Those looking to listen to the GTA soundtracks now have another avenue beyond firing up the games with which to do so. GTA developers Rockstar have filled their Spotify profile page with playlists containing music from every GTA game since GTA III.

As with Spotify in general, not every song from the games is available, but the vast majority are. Rockstar have also offered up iTunes versions of each station too, if you'd rather nab them through Apple's store.

The next instalment in the Grand Theft Auto franchise, GTA V, is set to launch on 17 September 2013, delayed by four months while developers Rockstar fine-tune the title.

"We know this is about four months later than originally planned and we know that this short delay will come as a disappointment to many of you, but, trust us, it will be worth the extra time," said a Rockstar rep.

"GTA 5 is a massively ambitious and complex game and it simply needs a little more polish to be of the standard we and, more importantly, you require."

Due out on PS3 and Xbox 360, you can catch the latest trailer below.

LG are set to add Spotify music streaming to their connected home cinema systems.

Plenty of LG's web connected Blu-ray players and speaker systems from 2013 will be getting the new Spotfy app, set to launch in April. No word yet however on whether it will hit the company's Smart TV line up too.

The Spotify app joins BBC iPlayer, Netflix, LoveFilm and a host of other web services on the company's ever-growing smart platform.

Craig West, Head of Marketing, LG Consumer Electronics UK, said:

"LG's Smart platform provides unparalleled choice for consumers and the addition of Spotify demonstrates LG's continued commitment to growing the brand's Smart offering for consumers. We are confident that LG Smart media owners will enjoy these latest services, as well as the fantastic updates we have planned for the rest of the year."

"It's our mission to make all the world's music available instantly to everyone, everywhere, so we're delighted to partner with LG to make our music service available on their smart media devices", added Kate Opekar, Director, hardware business development at Spotify.

"Spotify wants to be at the heart of the home entertainment experience, so it's a natural fit to make our music service available on blu-ray players and home cinema systems."

The LG products set to get the Spotify update are the BH9430PW, BH7530TW, BH7430P, BH7130C, BH6730S, BH6430P, BH6230S, BP730, BP630 and the BP530R.

Those looking to use the Spotify app will need to be signed up for a premium account, which will set you back £9.99 a month and offer unlimited mobile and desktop streaming of Spotify's music catalogue, as well as the ability to download albums as offline playlists.

Spotify is today set to remove the cap that limits those using the service for free in the UK to only five plays of each track.

According to Musically, as of today, all UK non-paying Spotify users can listen to their favourite tracks over and over again without fear of being locked out of the service.

However, some restrictions still apply. For instance, free users will still have to put up with adverts, while their total playback time each month is limited to just 10 hours.

The UK is one of the latter territories to have the restriction removed: Finland, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and Spain had the five-play cap removed in March 2012, while the US, Australia and New Zealand never had a cap to begin with.

It's been a busy month for Spotify, who also recently launched their web-player in beta, a godsend for thsoe using shared computers where administration restrictions prevent them from installing the full Spotify client.

As well as the free service, Spotify offer an unlimited desktop streaming package for £4.99 a month, while a £9.99 Premium account allows users to save tracks for offline playback on a mobile device. The service now has over 6 million paying subscribers.

Spotify continues its charge towards mass-market adoption, revealing that they now serve streaming tunes to over 6 million paying subscribers.

Those subscribers have now brought in over $500 million in revenue for the Stockholm-based company, while ad-funded revenue still keeps streaming in (ahem) from the free users of the service's 24 million overall active users.

Continuos updates to both the Spotify desktop and mobile platforms (including the recent release of an in-browser player) keep attracting new custom, while the services 2011 US launch, tied with a Facebook partnership, also likely boosted the numbers significantly.

However, Spotify face a potentially difficult year. Though they've been long-rumoured, it seems that this year will be the one where Google and Apple launch rival streaming services. With the weight of those giant companies behind any such project, Spotify will be grateful for the solid user base they now have to work with.

Spotify's Web Player has now entered a public beta testing phase, after first being revealed back at the company's major press event in November 2012.

Working from inside any web browser and designed to get more people using the music streaming service, the web player will be a godsend for those looking to listen to Spotify at work or at school, and other places where IT managers frown at the installation of software onto shared PCs.

However, the beta offering still lacks some of the promised features for UK users. Most of the social elements, such as the ability to follow celebrity pages and browse Facebook friends' playlists from the web interface are still missing.

Controls to make your listening session public or private to social networks are available in the web player beta however, meaning you can keep you Engelbert Humperdinck solo parties to yourself.

You also get the What's New tab to browse the latest Spotify releases, a regular search tool for trawling through the entire catalogue of millions of songs, and the Spotify Radio feature that creates a radio station based on a chosen artist.

Spotify have teamed up with Volvo, bringing in-car music streaming to Volvo cars kitted out with the new Sensus Connected Touch in-car entertainment system. Announced today at the Geneva Motor Show, it's the first time Spotify has been available as a fully integrated voice control app in a car dashboard.

The Volvo system is powered either by a mobile phone, or via a connected 3G or 4G dongle. Featuring a 7-inch touchscreen display and an OS based on Android, the Sensus Connected Touch allows users to simply speak artists and tracks they want to listen to in order to have them play, meaning drivers can keep heir eyes on the road at all times.

Going on sale from May 2013, the systems will feature their own dedicated app store, allowing for the likes of Google Maps and TuneIn Radio to be installed in the dashboard.

"Spotify wants to make it as easy as possible for people to enjoy all the world's music wherever and whenever they are," said Pascal de Mul, global head of hardware partnerships, Spotify.

We know that the car is the number one environment in which people want to listen to music, so we are working to make Spotify available for drivers in as many types of car as possible. We are really excited to announce this innovative, hands-free in-dash Spotify service today with Volvo, so that even more drivers will be able to enjoy Spotify music safely while on the road."

The announcement comes hot on the heels of Ford's own MWC Spotify news, revealing that the music streaming service would also be coming to their AppLink Sync service.

Check the system in action in the video below:

Ford have used MWC 2013 as the platform to announce that they will be adding Spotify music streaming to their in-car Ford SYNC AppLink connected dashboard service.

The new EcoSport for European territories will be one of the first cars to get the new features when the SUV goes on sale later this year.

SYNC AppLink opens up a whole new world of content to Ford customers that they can access on the move by voice control while keeping their hands on the wheel and their eyes on the road," said Paul Mascarenas, Ford chief technical officer and vice president, Research and Innovation.

"As one of the World's most popular music streaming services, Spotify is the perfect partner to demonstrate the benefits of the Ford SYNC AppLink system."

Spotify were equally thrilled:

"Our partnership with Ford AppLink will enable music-loving drivers to enjoy access to Spotify's huge catalogue of more than 20 million tracks safely, while on the road," said Pascal de Mul, global head of hardware partnerships, Spotify.

Ford's SYNC AppLink also allows drivers to safely control smartphone apps while behind the wheel by using voice control features.

Ford expect their connected dashboard features to be in 3.5 million European Ford cars be 2015.

Spotify has suspended the purchase and download of tracks through its music streaming service.

As well as offering streaming of its 20 million song library, Spotify had offered iTunes-style MP3 track downloads for a one-off fee. However, this feature has now been removed, regardless of wheter or not you're a free or Premium subscriber.

"We're no longer supporting new download purchases on Spotify," reads the message that greets users now, with a pop up window that re-directs to the Spotify FAQ page.

"We're currently not offering new download purchases on Spotify. You can still use downloads you've already purchased," says Spotify on the FAQ.

"Even though it's not possible to buy downloads using Spotify Desktop, you'll still be able to use your Spotify gift card, as long as it's one of the cards that features 'Downloads' as an option."

However, while there are alternative services available if you still insist on buying MP3s instead of streaming (here's looking at you iTunes, Amazon), what's more troubling is that previous purchases made through Spotify may eventually become unplayable once they meet their expiry date, with no way of reclaiming them. As it stands, older tracks purchased will still appear in your music library and can continue to be played through the service.

No reason has yet been given by Spotify as to why the change was made, but we'll keep you posted once we find out.

Via: Pocket-Lint

Spotify have rounded off their most successful ever year with the announcement of an elusive band bringing their music to the streaming service's catalogue. Heavy metal superstars Metallica, a band with a notoriously icy, skeptical view of digital music and streaming, will be releasing their entire back catalogue through the Swedish music platform.

Building bridges between two warring parties, Spotify also united Napster's Sean Parker and Metallica's Lars Ulrich onstage during their winter press conference. The pair have been at loggerheads for years over Napster's illegal distribution of Metallica tracks, with the band suing Napster back in the year 2000 over copyright infringement. Though the pair still didn't seem entirely comfortable in each others presence, Parker (who now sits on Spotify's board) and Ulrich shared jokes about their bitter feud which had lasted 12 years.

The Metallica announcement somewhat overshadowed Spotify's other announcements, detailing a number of new updates coming to their streaming platform.

Top of the list is a new "Discover" tab in the desktop version of Spotify, which will suggest new music for listeners based on their taste. Rather than existing in a vacuum, these recommendations will come with context showing why they have been suggested. Spotify will offer reviews and artist bios along with track recommendations, detailing which artists that you're a fan of that they are similar with, and often showing bands playing soon in your locality too. Spotify will now even tap into your personal details, such as age, reminding you of songs that you may have enjoyed during your youth.

The update will also introduce new Twitter-style following features, letting Spotify users pick artists, pals or "influencers" whose music or taste they like, and receive updates on their new playlists or new releases. In the case of bands or artists, Spotfiy uses can even sign up to have messages sent directly to their smartphones, informing them of a new release as soon as it hits Spotify's catalogue.

Spotify's CEO Daniel Ek confirmed the service now has more than 5 million paid subscribers worldwide, and has paid out over $500m (£311m) to record labels since its launch. When taking into account users who listen for free via the ad-supported player, Spotify has a grand total of 20 million active users.

Spotify have revealed the artists making waves through their music streaming service in 2012, publishing the lists of most streamed albums, tracks, and artists, both globally and in the UK, as well as the most used apps in the desktop Spotify application.

Gotye's 'Somebody That I Used To Know' is by far this year's most popular song on Spotify, topping the global and UK streaming lists, as well as being the most shared song on Spotify. Gotye himself also places 5th on the 'Most-streamed male artists' list on Spotify too

Moving onto albums and David Guetta's 'Nothing But The Beat' takes the top spot, followed again by Gotye with 'Making Mirrors'.

Rihanna bags the most-streamed female artist award, while Guetta claims the same title for blokes, with Coldplay topping the list of most streamed bands.

When it comes to applications within Spotify, TuneWiki, the sing-along karaoke app with (sometimes dodgy) crowd-sourced lyrics tops the charts.

Check out the full breakdown of artists and albums topping the Spotify streaming charts during 2012 below.

Most-streamed tracks of 2012 (global)

1. Gotye featuring Kimbra - 'Somebody That I Used To Know'

2. Carly Rae Jepsen - 'Call Me Maybe'

3. Fun. featuring Janelle Monáe - 'We Are Young'

4. Flo Rida - 'Whistle'

5. Flo Rida featuring Sia - 'Wild Ones'

6. Train - 'Drive By'

7. Nicki Minaj - 'Starships'

8. Maroon 5 featuring Wiz Khalifa - 'Payphone'

9. David Guetta featuring Sia - 'Titanium'

10. Loreen - 'Euphoria'

See the full list of the Top 100 most popular tracks of 2012.

Most-streamed tracks of 2012 in the UK

1. Gotye featuring Kimbra - 'Somebody That I Used To Know'

2. Carly Rae Jepsen - 'Call Me Maybe'

3. David Guetta featuring Sia - 'Titanium'

4. Fun featuring Janelle Monae - We Are Young

5. Nicki Minaj - 'Starships'

6. Flo Rida featuring Sia - 'Wild Ones'

7. Rihanna - 'We Found Love'

8. Alex Clare - 'Too Close'

9. Train - 'Drive By'

10. Jessie J - 'Domino'

See the full list of the Top 100 most popular tracks in the UK of 2012.

Most-streamed albums of 2012

1. David Guetta - 'Nothing But The Beat'

2. Gotye - 'Making Mirrors'

3. Drake - 'Take Care'

4. Lana Del Ray - 'Born To Die'

5. One Direction - 'Up All Night'

6. Fun. - 'Some Nights'

7. Rihanna - 'Talk That Talk'

8. Coldplay - 'Mylo Xyloto'

9. Carly Rae Jepsen - 'Call Me Maybe'

10. Flo Rida - 'Wild Ones'

See the full list of the Top 20 Most Streamed Albums of 2012.

Most-shared tracks by Spotify users (the most-shared tracks to Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and Spotify user's Inboxes)

1. Gotye 'Somebody That I Used To Know'

2. Carly Rae Jepsen 'Call Me Maybe'

3. Fun. 'We Are Young - feat. Janelle Monáe'

4. Flo Rida featuring Sia 'Wild Ones'

5. David Guetta 'Titanium - feat. Sia'

6. Flo Rida featuring Sia - 'Whistle'

7. Train - 'Drive By'

8. Maroon 5 - 'Payphone'

9. Rihanna - 'We Found Love'

10. Michel Teló - 'Ai Se Eu Te Pego - Live'

See the full list of the Top 20 Most-shared Tracks of 2012.

Most-streamed female artists

1. Rihanna

2. Nicki Minaj

3. Adele

4. Lana Del Ray

5. Katy Perry

6. Carly Rae Jepsen

7. Beyonce

8. Taylor Swift

9. Loreen

10. Kelly Clarkson

Click here for the playlist featuring the Top 20 Most- Streamed Female Artists of 2012.

Most-streamed male artists

1. David Guetta

2. Flo Rida

3. Eminem

4. Skrillex

5. Gotye

6. Drake

7. Pitbull

8. Jay-Z and Kanye West

9. Chris Brown

10. Avicii

Click here for the playlist featuring the Top 20 Most-Streamed Male Artists of 2012.

Most-streamed bands

1. Coldplay

2. Maroon 5

3. Fun.

4. Mumford and Sons

5. Florence and the Machine

6. Linkin Park

7. LMFAO

8. One Direction

9. Train

10. Glee Cast

Click here for the playlist featuring the Top 20 Most Streamed Bands of 2012.

Most popular apps by usage

1. TuneWiki

2. Soundrop

3. We Are Hunted

4. Last.fm

5. Pitchfork

6. Digstr

7. musiXmatch

8. Billboard

9. Filtr

10. Moodagent

Spotify is expanding its reach ever further, today revealing a new partnership that will see the music streaming service invade living rooms housing Samsung Smart TVs.

Rolling out across October and kicking off with the Series 7 and Series 8 TV models, the announcement makes Samsung the first TV manufacturer to "bring Spotify to the big screen".

It's not, however, the first time Spotify has been available through a TV. Both Virgin Media Tivo boxes and select Onkyo home cinema receivers give access to the streaming service.

The app will also eventually be available through Samsung's other web connected devices, including Blu-ray players and home theatre sets.

"The television is at the heart of most people's home entertainment experience, so it is a natural fit to make our music service available on internet-connected Smart TVs," said Pascal de Mul, Spotify's global head of hardware partnerships.

Spotify for Samsung TVs is free to download, though you'll need a £9.99 per month subscription to actually use it. Might also need to take into account the few extra pence-per month needed to keep your telly on to listen, too!

Spotify, the fast-growing music streaming service, may be about to extend their service into pastures new by offering TV show streaming alongside the tunes.

A new report from Danish tech site Beep.tv2.dk suggests that the Swedish music maestros are preparing to offer Scandinavian customers TV content from HBO Nordic, should they be able secure the rights.

To help in this endeavour, the company are said to have recruited former Executive Director of US cable network Comcast, Michael Berkley.

Towing the company line, a Spotify spokesperson stated that "there's always a lot of speculation surrounding Spotify but it's something we never comment on."

With HBO's line-up of shows including such gems as The Wire, The Sopranos, Curb Your Enthusiasm and Game of Thrones, Scandinavian Spotify subscribers will be in for a treat if the company pull this off.

Indeed, if the deal does come to fruition, and ever spreads internationally, Spotify will offer quite the service, beating the likes of We7, Rdio and Pandora in the video stakes, and offering music where the likes of Netflix and LoveFilm do not, even if the Spotify video library would be far less comprehensive.

Via: Paid Content

Big shake-ups in the music-streaming world of Spotify are on the way, according to new reports that suggest a browser-based version of the online tune library is incoming.

Though it's not clear whether or not the browser version will completely replace the desktop client, it will bring with it brand new features, including the ability to follow "influencers" to get new music recommendations, as well as the standard friend-following features. The goal will be to make Spotify more accessible than ever, giving users access to their playlists no matter the machine they use, without having to first download the client.

It would mean that Spotify could match rivals Rdio and Pandora, with each also offering a browser version.

There's also rumour of a price-cut for premium Spotify customers, which could see ad-free and mobile access to the service drop from £10/$10 to £8/$8. Ad-free desktop access regardless will stay at £5/$5.

With 4 million paying customers, Spotify likely feel the time is now right to court even more users, with a steady-enough revenue stream to allow for the risky price-cut to be taken.

Spotify have teamed up with Grammy award-winning singer-songwriter Bon Iver and Indaba Music for an exclusive remixing competition.

Dubbed the "Bon Iver, Bon Iver: Stems Project," fans are challenged with the task of remixing tracks from the artist's critically acclaimed sophomore Bon Iver, Bon Iver album, giving them access to the individual audio mixes of each individual track of each song so that they can tweak and remix them.

Participants have until August 29th to finish their remixes through the Indaba Music website, before they go to a vote through Spotify. Bon Iver will then pick ten tracks from the highest rated remixes made, with the chosen few making up a Spotify-exclusive remix album. The creators of the chosen ten songs will also receive $1,000 (around £640).

The instructions for taking part are as follows:

1. Create a free membership at Indaba Music (www.indabamusic.com)

2. Visit the Bon Iver, Bon Iver: Stems Project remix page on Indaba Music

3. Select a song(s) and download the stems

4. Participants will have from 1 August until 29 August to complete their remixes and upload them for consideration

5. Voting begins on 30 August through Bon Iver, Spotify and Indaba Music's websites and social networks via Facebook (one vote per account)

6. Winners will be announced during the third week of September, each earning a spot for their remix on the official Bon Iver, Bon Iver: Stems Project remix album on Spotify and a $1,000 cash prize (equivalent to approx. £640)

Spotify have begun introducing apps focussed on individua artists to their desktop application, with Rancid, Quincy Jones, Disturbed and Tiesto the first artists to be featured.

While all feature info and playlists from the musicians, all are slightly different. Quincy Jones's sees the much-loved producer discuss his work and how its been used by Hollywood over the years, while the Disturbed app acts as a history of metal music, for instance.

"The Spotify Artist App is a wonderful opportunity to share some of the behind the scenes stories of a few of the memorable recordings that I have been fortunate enough to make," said the legendary Jones.

"I think this App will give entertaining insight and value for these recordings to both music fans and aficionados."

Rancid's Tim Armstrong was equally enthused:

"I always want to share music with my friends and tell people about artists...both new and old. Nothing is more gratifying to me than turning people on to music and making it a part of their lives and then, them in turn, turning it onto other people. There is nothing like having music in common. We are truly looking forward to this whole thing."

All the apps will be updated regularly, with more promised to be on the way.

Do you have a favourite band or artist you'd like to see have their own Spoitify app? What should the apps offer? Let us know in the comments below!

Well, forgoing the need for widespread high-speed broadband, advanced graphical user interfaces and any tunes other than A-Ha or the Beverly Hills Cop theme, it would have probably looked something a bit like this, command line inputs and all.

Check out more from SquirrelMonkeyCom's excellent YouTube channel here.

Thanks to Luke for finding this gem!

Students are being a offered a mighty-tempting new deal from Spotify, who are knocking a giant 50% off their Premium accounts for anyone with a valid registered NUS Extra card.

Instead of the standard £9.99 fee per month for Spotify Premium (which offers unlimited desktop and mobile streaming of the applications 18-million song catalogue) students need only pay £4.99 a month, with the deal good for up to 12 months.

It's another great reason to sign up for the superb Spotify, who also updated their iPad app with some drastic improvements this week.

For more on the student offer, visit the NUS Extra website.

After waiting a good few years for it to arrive, Spotify have finally released their app for Apple's iPad tablet.

Not just merely a re-sized iPhone app like the one Spotify had been hiding behind on iPad until now, the visually-rich app features a slide-out navigation pane, a trending playlists section (based on both location and friends) and full, individually-tweaked support for both landscape and portrait orientations.

Search has been updated too, with band bio information and pictures offered up alongside tracks, while all album art work and interface features make full use of the new iPad's Retina display.

"Enjoying all the world's music instantly on your iPad has never been easier," reads the Spotify press statement.

"And with the brand new full-screen view and AirPlay integration, Spotify and your iPad are perfect for each other, both as your pumped-up living room stereo and your lean, green music machine when you're on the move."

And it's about time too. Click here to grab the app from the App Store.

Spotify founder Daniel Ek has made it onto the Sunday Time Rich List for 2012, with an estimated worth of £190 million.

That puts the music streaming guru on a level footing with The Rolling Stone's Mick Jagger and David and Victoria Beckham, amassing wealth that took Jagger 68 years in just 29.

Though Swedish, Ek has made his way onto the UK list this time around as part of his working year is now spent in Spotify's London offices.

Launching in 2006, Spotify is now valued at £1.2 billion, with 3 million paying subscribers pumping money into the application. Adding 10,000 tracks a day, and with a recent partnership with Facebook paying dividends, the sky's the limit for the music streaming app.

The Sunday Times 2012 Rich List in full is as follows:

Sunday Times Rich List 2012 -Top 20

1 Clive Calder - £1.35bn

2 Sir Cameron Mackintosh - £725m

3 Sir Paul McCartney and Nancy Shevell - £665m

4 Lord Lloyd-Webber - £590m

5 U2 - £514m

6 Simon Fuller - £375m

7 Simon Cowell - £225m

8 Sir Elton John - £220m

9 Michael Flatley - £192m

10= David and Victoria Beckham - £190m
10= Daniel Ek - £190m
10= Sir Mick Jagger - £190m

13= Olivia and Dhani Harrison - £180m
13= Sting - £180m

15 Keith Richards - £175m

16 Jamie Palumbo - £170m

17 Denis and Caroline Desmond - £165m

18 Ringo Starr - £160m

19 Sir Tim Rice - £144m

20 Sir Tom Jones - £140m