(Image Source: Wired)

BY DANNY MATTESON

ANCHOR CHRISTINA HARTMAN

You're watching multisource video news analysis from Newsy.

After years of speculation and several delays, Europe’s heavily touted music service -- Spotify -- will finally get a chance to “R-O-C-K in the U.S.A.”

CNN explains how the service works.

“The Spotify computer program will let people choose from any of 15 million songs to hear for free -- up to 20 hours per month, with each track listenable up to five times....After that, users can lift the restrictions by paying $5 a month or buying songs individually...”

So what’s the big deal?

Although current digital options for American music fans are plentiful, Wired believes Spotify may be one of the greatest hits.

“It’s faster and more responsive than iTunes, torrents, or Pandora. And while there have been all-you-can-eat music services like Rhapsody for some time, none of them let you start listening without laying down a credit card....It has fundamentally changed how people listen to music in Europe.”

Although Spotify has deals with the four major American music labels, writers for NPR's The Record take issue with with the service’s selection -- but also note, time may be on the music provider’s side. 

“...there are some big indie holes...[but] If the demand for the service matches the anticipation, there probably won't be many holdouts for long. Spotify says it's currently got 15 million songs in its database, and claims to be adding 10,000 each day.”

...and despite being the new kid on the digital music block, writers at The Guardian believe the service’s alliance with Facebook has already given it a leg up on the competition.

"Spotify is really the biggest threat, in our view. It's going to sell into Facebook's 650 million users, and if you look at the growth of Zynga, it's clear that an alliance with Facebook is definitely what you want because its the biggest distribution channel out there."

But writers at The New York Times don’t think conquering the digital music market will be that easy.

“While the company had relatively little competition in Europe as a subscription service, in the United States a number of similar companies have gotten a head start...And new cloud services from Apple, Google and Amazon promise to make people’s music collections available anywhere they go.”

Spotify officially launched in the U.S. -- Thursday morning.

Transcript by Newsy.