Spotify signs a deal with Universal

The popular technology blog All Things Digital was the first to report Friday that the popular Swedish music subscription service had signed an American distribution deal with Universal Music Group, the world’s largest music label. With deals already signed with EMI Music Group and Sony, Spotify is closer to launching their services in the world’s largest music market, the US.

Still not in in place is a deal with the third largest music company, Warner Music Group, but Spotify could be launching without a signature from the giant not risking to postpone launch any further. Apple stated this week their intentions of breaking into cloud services, announcing the cloud based iTunes, iCloud, as well as the service iTunes Match, which allows users to store all their music content in the Apple-cloud, regardless of whether that music was purchased through iTunes or not. Apple has allegedly struck a deal with all major four labels. Competition is also getting tighter with both Amazon’s cloud player and Google’s new music service, Google Music, still in closed beta, and so far only available in the US.

While the subscription price is still unknown, most guesses land around 10 USD for the premium service, making Spotify one of the more expensive subscription services in the US when they launch. A bundle of other similar services already exist in the US (check out Rdio) charging half of what Spotify may come to charge, but they are yet to take off.  Whereas Amazon, Apple and Google most likely will be the strongest rivals in the US market, their take on cloud based music offering is different from Spotify as they are building their services around giving you mobile access to music you already own, while subscription services like Spotify give access to millions of tracks you may not have.

Rumours have it Spotify could be launching in the US already this summer.