Spotify keeps the free music party going in the US
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}July 19, 2011: An Associated Press reporter demonstrates Spotify during a product review in San Francisco. (AP)
Good news for American Spotify users who do not want to pay for their music -- the streaming service will continue to let them listen to anything they want, without restrictions, for a while longer.
The free music party was supposed to end three months ago, which would have meant that nonpaying users would face a 10-hours-a-month cap.
But the company extended the promotion, which it introduced during Spotify's US launch last summer, and it announced Thursday that it is extending it again.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Outside the US, Spotify also removed another limit on free music -- a restriction that meant free users could only hear a single song five times, period -- though the 10-hours-a-month restriction still stands.
The various restrictions are a result of negotiations with the big music labels and are designed to give users an incentive to upgrade their free accounts to premium ones and/or actually buy music from Spotify or other sources.
Paying users get to listen to Spotify without ads and can access the service from iPhones and Android handsets.