Spotify reveals new design, new features - and Metallica

Spotify has revealed a new look, new features and details on subscribers and artist payments at a press conference in New York.

The streaming music service also revealed the addition of the full Metallica back catalogue, a band which once sued Napster, the founders of which are now key investors in Spotify.

Daniel Ek, Spotify CEO, revealed that the service now hosts one million playlists from five million paying subscribers, one million of which are now based in the US, where Spotify launched earlier this year.

In an attempt to answer critics on Spotify payments to artists, Ek also revealed the company has paid out over half a billion dollars to artists since its inception.

Spotify also revealed a new look web player, currently in beta mode but set to go live in early 2013.

(New Spotify in Beta mode pictured, minus a few of the new features)

The new look adds a Collection tab for storing all your favourite tracks, a Follow tab for social media integration, allowing you to share content with friends and follow your favourite artists.

Following artists will also mean that you get updates when new music from them lands on Spotify.

There's also a new track preview feature, which means your currently playing music can be interrupted briefly as you play other tracks before continuing where you left off when you stop.

Music discovery and sharing were once again the key features that Spotify is hoping to push in its self-proclaimed effort to get "all the music in the world" available to stream on Spotify.

Clearly Lars Ulrich, the founder of Metallica, who famously sued file-sharing site Napster and have been seen as the antithesis of streaming services, is now convinced.

Written by Joe Cox

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Joe Cox
Content Director

Joe is the Content Director for What Hi-Fi? and Future’s Product Testing, having previously been the Global Editor-in-Chief of What Hi-Fi?. He has worked on What Hi-Fi? across the print magazine and website for almost 20 years, writing news, reviews and features on everything from turntables to TVs, headphones to hi-fi separates. He has covered product launch events across the world, from Apple to Technics, Sony and Samsung; reported from CES, the Bristol Show, and Munich High End for many years; and written for sites such as the BBC, Stuff, and the Guardian. In his spare time, he enjoys expanding his vinyl collection and cycling (not at the same time).