Like All Euro-Based Music Acts, Spotify Wants to Conquer America -- But Won't

Euro music service and overall digerati darling, Spotify, just (finally!) signed a deal with Universal Music Group to launch in the U.S. Of all the major music labels, only Warner Music Group remains. So, Spotify has us believing that it will now launch in the U.S. -- after two years of continuous promises -- in July.

That may be. But, I for one will greet Spotify's entry into the U.S. subscription music market with a yawn. And, my prediction is that so will the rest of U.S. consumers. Darling of the press, yes. But, innovative and different in any meaningful way? I doubt it. And, certainly not sufficiently different or innovative to take any meaningful market share.

Let me count the ways ... well, there's Pandora, Rhapsody, Napster, Slacker, Rdio, and on ... and on ... and on. Pandora alone has massive distribution. What is Spotify's "go-to-market" strategy to make a dent out of all of that and conquer America ? I haven't heard anything there. And, oh yes, and I almost forgot, then there's iTunes -- soon to be in the Cloud -- Amazon's Cloud-based streaming service; Google's Cloud-based streaming service ....

Spotify. The shine will rub off. That's my bet. Check back with me in 6 months (assuming the service does launch in that time-frame).