ReadWriteWeb

The question period after today's launch of Google's OneBox music search focused a great deal on the project delivering users with easy "legitimate music" versus other illegitimate sources. While discussion was centered around squashing the millions of illegal torrent files available for download, the truth is that a number of streaming music sites like Grooveshark have worked hard to pen legitimate label deals. While some may wonder why iLike and Lala were chosen above others to benefit from the Google deal, many more are worried that the companies will be unable to offset label fees via premium subscriptions and advertising.

Just when you thought media darling Spotify was going to be the sexiest music service of the year, music blogging platform MOG is announcing plans to offer a $5 dollar per month, all-you-can-hear music service. In an interview with MOG CEO David Hyman, ReadWriteWeb
learned that tomorrow morning the company will announce deals with Universal, Sony, Warner and EMI. While other services are scrambling to sign licensing agreements with the four major US labels, MOG All Access will launch before November 26. It looks like Americans will have plenty to celebrate this Thanksgiving.

Gainesville-based music startup Grooveshark just signed a major label agreement with EMI Music and EMI Music Publishing. While the company is unwilling to disclose the exact terms of the deal, Grooveshark VP of Marketing Josh Bonnain expressed that the agreement is fair and mutually beneficial. The surprise deal comes after EMI filed a June lawsuit against the company. While Grooveshark members gain access to EMI's huge song catalogue including tracks from the Virgin, Blue Note and Astralwerks labels, it'll be interesting to see if the agreement is actually a sustainable one.

In a surprisingly candid post on Spotify's blog, company co-founder Daniel Ek recently shared his thoughts about where the popular streaming music company stands today and where he hopes it can go in the future. The main point of his post was to clarify that Spotify, despite being a media darling these days, is nowhere near becoming a sustainable company with a stable revenue model. However, that's their end goal, Ek says, and they're in it "for the long haul" with no intention of simply "flipping" the company after the hype reaches its crescendo. But in the meantime, the company struggles with the exorbitant per-play fees enforced by the music industry while not finding success with an ad-supported model.

European music service Spotify is one of the most highly anticipated applications coming to the U.S. The service, best described as a streaming music version of iTunes, consists of both desktop software as well as complementary mobile applications for Apple's iPhone and the Google Android platform. Already, the service is wildly popular overseas in its current markets which include the United Kingdom, Sweden, France, Spain, Norway and Finland where it has accumulated over 5 million users. There, the company offers two versions of its service - a free application and a premium, ad-free subscription version.

According to recent reports, however, Spotify may do things a little differently when it reaches the States. Says Andres Sehr, Spotify's global community manager, the company is considering going the "freemium" route for the U.S. market.

Spotify's CEO Daniel Ek must be ecstatic. The company's iPhone application has been approved for the App Store ahead of competitors Rhapsody and Grooveshark. PaidContent UK reports that Apple has notified Spotify that its app will appear in the store shortly. In late July there was fear that the Swedish site's iPhone service would be denied due to the fact that it was seen as a threat to iTunes. Since then, Apple has come under FCC investigation for its app approval process. The investigation could not have come at a better time for Spotify; the speedy approval is likely due to Apple's interest in deflecting accusations of anti-competitive tactics.

Yesterday we asked what 3 web apps or services you find the most exciting right now. Not your 3 most used or favorite, but the apps that currently make you tingly with excitement. We got some great responses in the comments, so in this post we pick out our top 10 from your choices.

We've chosen the 10 in two batches. Firstly, the services that got the most number of mentions. As expected, these are well known apps that millions of people are using (or will use when it's launched, in the case of Google Wave). We didn't want this to be purely a popularity contest though, so we've also selected 5 lesser known web apps or services. Those apps all got multiple mentions and in our estimation they're each worthy of being labeled 'exciting.'

Not to be outdone by recent announcements from streaming music site Spotify, Gainesville-based Grooveshark announced a $3 per month or $30 per year ad-free Grooveshark VIP service. Grooveshark VIP offers users early access to development pipeline releases including early testing on the upcoming Grooveshark iPhone application and early August 24th access to Grooveshark 2 - the site's next generation. In addition to offering users WordPress and Facebook integration, Grooveshark spokesperson Josh Bonnain laid down some key differences between Spotify and Grooveshark.

Spotify CEO Daniel Ek has the Midas touch. In anticipation of the company's US launch, the on-demand music streaming site is finalizing what is rumored to be a $50 million dollar round of investments. According to the Financial Times, if Spotify closes the round with Wellington Partners and Li Ka Shing Foundation, the Swedish company will be valued at $250 million dollars.

Yesterday, Swedish music service Spotify announced their application's submission to Apple iTunes App Store. Spotify, which already boasts over 6 million users in Europe, is somewhat of an iTunes alternative - albeit with streaming tracks instead of downloads. However, the similarity between the two services leads some to believe that Apple, notorious for booting apps that duplicate iTunes functionality, won't approve the new Spotify iPhone application. And in another example of Apple's totalitarianism, the company also just pulled Google Voice and other third-party Google Voice applications from the App Store.

Luckily for jailbreakers, problems like those above are less of an issue. There's currently an open source Spotify client app available for download and the third-party GV Mobile app for Google Voice is coming soon.