2011

Most music lovers have by now heard that there’s a new music service in town. Last Thursday, July 14, after two years of speculation, rumors and waiting, Spotify launched for U.S. users. Following several days of use, it’s clear why Spotify has taken many other countries by storm and people were so eager for the service to arrive Stateside. With several days of streaming, syncing, music discovery, social sharing, playlist creation and tinkering under our belts, let’s answer some questions about Spotify.

What is Spotify?

Imagine browsing the iTunes store. Now imagine finding a song or an artist that you’d like to listen to and being able to play the entire song rather than just a ten second snippet. That’s cool right? Well, not only can you simply listen to a song on demand like you can on Grooveshark, you can sync the files to your computer to play them when you are offline, sync them to your mobile, share them with other users, create playlists and seemingly enjoy most all the benefits of digital music “ownership” as if you had actually purchased the track. Of course, completely legally.

Sweet! Where do I sign-up?

Spotify is still in a limited beta mode in the United States, but it’s not too hard to get in.

• Twitter users can go to Klout.com, click on “Perks” and see if a Spotify invite is available to you instantly.
• You can add your name to the waiting list on Spotify.com
• You can use the author’s invitations from Klout by signing up here: Invitation Link
• Or you can sign up for one of the paid tiers of service which require no waiting

READ ON for more answers about what Spotify can do for you…

Since Furthur began their summer tour with a gig at All Good and a pair shows in New York state, it seems like the perfect time to offer up a

Tonight Show with Jay Leno bandleader Rickey Minor will host a group of musicians that includes Sharon Jones and Grace Potter for a performance on Thursday night’s show. The group

Andrew Bender’s reports from the 15th Annual All Good Music Festival continue with his take and photos from Friday…

After waking up on Friday morning and scarfing down some food, I made my way up to the Grassroots Stage in the campground to see The Recipe, who provided a fun, early morning performance, though not anything that left me begging for more musically. Leading off music at the main stage, Giant Panda Guerilla Dub Squad delivered their dub reggae hip-hop vibes, assaulting the crowd with some heavy beats. After a short set, Infamous Stringdusters brought their traditional bluegrass tunes to All Good which were perfect in the early afternoon heat.

One the defining features of the All Good festival has been the lack of competing stages. However, in recent years All Good promoters have added a campground or Grassroots Stage featuring lesser known or more local acts. Those generally start before music begins on the two main stages, and last year the Campground Stage featured Greensky Bluegrass and Giant Panda Guerilla Dub Squad both of whom were upgraded to early day, mainstage slots for this year’s festival.

However, this year the festival organizers teamed with some of the scene’s charitable organizations: HeadCount, the Rex Foundation and Rock the Earth. So, I hiked up to the Campground stage age where Head Count was hosting an interview with Furthur drummer Joe Russo.

• All Good Diary: The Action Starts, At The Beginning

READ ON for Andrew’s thoughts and photos from Umphrey’s, Furthur and Galactic at All Good plus much more…