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Lauren Hurley/PA Wire

Spotify just unveiled its latest plans and it sees a world beyond music

Original videos, podcasts and some new music features were some of the additions it announced today.

ORIGINAL VIDEOS, PODCASTS, music based on your mood and matching music tempo to your runs will soon be a part of the new Spotify experience.

Unveiling the new features at a press event in New York,  Spotify’s CEO Daniel Ek said the new features will allow a greater deal of flexibility and scope for users as it adds in multimedia content alongside its music collection.

“We’re introducing a new Spotify experience that is more accessible, more personable and useable than anything else in music,” said Ek. ”This is a next generation of Spotify for a new generation of users.”

One of the first features introduced was a service called ‘Now’ which presents music based on what you’re doing at that time of the day. The current suggestions included early morning, evening commute, and bedtime, making it a similar prospect to Songza which was bought by Google and integrated into its own music service.

Talk radio (and likely podcasts) will be a part of the new Spotify, and video will now be built into the service, exclusive content being a major part of this deal.

At the event, it showed off a video from VICE News, the Nerdist and the Comedy Central show Broad City, but other partners include TED, BBC, NBC, ESPN, MTV, Slate and [adult swim] and Ek said that more original content would follow.

One of the more unusual aspects of Spotify’s announcement was a feature that will pick a song based on how fast you’re running.

The feature will come with a running menu which detects the tempo you’re running at before choosing the right song, music and tempo to keep the runner motivated throughout their run.

Alongside that, it’s created what it claims to be “a completely new track format” that will play music designed to adapt to your running tempo. A similar version will appear in Nike’s Runkeeper app as part of a new partnership.

Spotify / YouTube

The new features will arrive in the US, UK, Germany, and Sweden today and will rollout to other countries over the next few weeks.

Ek took the opportunity to share some stats at the event. More than 25 billion hours of music has been streaming through the service since it launched while Spotify makes up 54% of the music streaming business. Spotify currently has 60 million users signed up to the service, but only 15 million pay for it.

Read: There’s something familiar about Google’s idea to share links via sound >

Read: Finding it difficult to look at your screen? Why not invert its colours >

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17 Comments
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Craig Hickey
    Favourite Craig Hickey
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    May 20th 2015, 5:12 PM

    Best €9.99 I spend!

    195
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Byyys
    Favourite Byyys
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    May 20th 2015, 5:18 PM

    There is a way of getting unlimited skips on songs & no advertising for free… Only down side is it dosent allow you create playlists or download songs offline – tha’ts what you are paying for i suppose!

    24
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Gary O'neill
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    May 20th 2015, 5:20 PM

    Apple iTunes is a way more efficient way of listening to music unless your an android peasant

    11
    See 8 more replies ▾
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute John Lawless
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    May 20th 2015, 5:20 PM

    €12.99 for new subscribers. :(

    5
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Malachi
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    May 20th 2015, 5:24 PM

    @Byyyys

    How do you do that?

    12
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Byyys
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    May 20th 2015, 5:31 PM

    @Malachi I can’t say much on here. Google modified Spotify apk. download and install the modified version (at your own risk) and away you go….

    6
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute richard fennessy
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    May 20th 2015, 5:38 PM

    gary the 1990s r looking for u

    56
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Paul Collins
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    May 20th 2015, 5:47 PM

    €5.99 for me as a Vodafone customer. It’s some service all the same… And I think the way Byyys is referring to will only work on desktop and not mobile…

    25
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Byyys
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    May 20th 2015, 5:55 PM

    Obviously it’s different for iPhone users…for android use this Apk http://bit.ly/1K1tRO7

    6
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Jason
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    May 20th 2015, 5:57 PM

    Have it with Vodafone too, got it free for a year and now it’s €4.99. Great for the commute!

    9
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute The Dude
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    May 20th 2015, 6:30 PM

    ….and very little of that going to independent artists.

    6
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute DeeJay
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    May 20th 2015, 5:48 PM

    Love the way the report says “only 15 million pay for it” like that’s a bad thing!

    19
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Mark Byrne
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    May 20th 2015, 8:43 PM

    Why pay for streaming?

    3
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Resel
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    May 21st 2015, 3:55 AM

    Too expensive given that netflix is €7

    3
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    Mute Pete Gilmartin
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    May 21st 2015, 12:08 AM

    Podcast services would be fantastic. I listen to a lot if podcasts as it fits into my preferred way of consuming content. Unfortunately they are spread over different services like soundcloud, spreaker and libsyn. Unifying them under one service would be very beneficial. I already avail of Spotify premium so this is great news.

    2
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Neal Ireland Hello
    Favourite Neal Ireland Hello
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    May 20th 2015, 6:48 PM

    Great. Another company trying to make money out of my podcast.

    2
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute The whistler
    Favourite The whistler
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    May 20th 2015, 9:28 PM

    These are just the features that I’ve never wanted on spotify, I mustn’t belong to the ” new generation of users”

    Still better than googles “no no.. play this” service

    1
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