Apple approves Spotify’s music service app for iPhone

Popular European music streaming service Spotify has, after weeks of delay, been approved by Apple for the iPhone App Store.  Spotify, whom many industry watchers consider a direct challenger to Apple’s iTunes, has been showing off its app although Apple’s reviewers had not yet approved it as a downloadable iPhone application. That roadblock has been cleared.

“The current status as of right now is it’s been approved and we hope to add the app to the more than 65,000 apps on the app store very soon,” an unnamed Apple spokesperson told paidContent UK. “We’ve been in constant communication working with the developer and have already notified Spotify that the app will be in the app store very soon.”

Spotify doesn’t serve U.S. Internet users yet, but has plans to go into business here before the end for the year. The iPhone app is just one part of Spotify’s strategy for reaching U.S. listeners. In Sweden, Universal Music claims to make more money from Spotify than from iTunes. So naturally, cynics presumed the delay in Spotify’s approval was Apple trying to block spotify, at least until after the Cupertino company unveils its own unlimited music service in early September.

Meanwhile, Spotify must deal with the refusal of several big rock bands to allow Spotify to sell their music. Besides the perpetually Internet-averse Beatles, members of Led Zeppelin, AC/DC and Metallica have opted out of their labels’ agreements with Spotify. The company hasn’t pursued independent deals with artists. Spotify CEO Daniel Ek (pictured) told the Telegraph earlier this year, “Due to our huge scope and the level of work that lies purely in adding our labels’ entire catalogues (we’re only a third of the way through even now), we haven’t struck any independent artist deals, although we’re definitely open to it.”

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[Photo: Spotify]