R.E.M. is set to unveil its latest album, Collapse Into Now, and Spotify listeners can check out a 5-track sampler for a taste of what to expect from the new album.

Additionally, we’re running a competition, giving all Spotify users a chance to win:

• A Fender Squier Stratocaster guitar, signed by Michael Stipe
• A Sonos S5 – a high-performance wireless music system
• A signed photograph of the band
• A special Spotify playlist compiled by the band, which will be automatically added to their Premium account

Spotify users can enter the competition by visiting the contest page today.

UPDATE: Big congrats to jammie443 for winning the big prize!

Now here’s something for all you Bon Jovi fanatics, November 15th marks the start date of our incredible Bon Jovi competition to win the Bon Jovi Ultimate Collector’s Edition USB complete with 30 of Bon Jovi’s greatest hits plus 17 incredible videos! To enter the competition simply create a special Bon Jovi playlist of YOUR favourites and share it here on the blog (Terms & Conditions are here).

Share your playlists across Facebook, Twitter and your profile and the most shared playlist wins! You’ll be ‘Wanted Dead Or Alive‘ if you win this prize!

We want you to ‘Get Ready’ and ‘Breakout’ your playlisting skills to celebrate the unleashing Bon Jovi’s Greatest Hits! The new album includes all of your favourite Bon Jovi hits plus four brand new songs!

Spotify Premium user? You’re in luck! Put a ‘Bullet’ into ‘Silent Nights’ and listen now to the three exclusive live tracks; recorded at New Jersey’s new Meadowlands Stadium.

Norwegian badass chanteuse Ida Maria presents her sophomore album “Katla”! Recorded in Santa Monica, Los Angeles, Summer of 2010, and produced by Butch Walker (Pink, Weezer, Hot Hot Heat), this is exactly how a bona fide end of the decade rock album should sound; dirty and chaotic, warm and catchy at the same time. “Katla” is released exclusively for Norway in November 2010, but will be launched internationally by Mercury Records in 2011. Also check out Ida Marias playlist here: RAD GALS by Ida Maria

Håkan Hellström is one of our favourite Swedish artists and has been so for the last decade or so. In fact, his new album “2 Steg Från Paradise” was released exactly ten years after his debut album “Känn Ingen Sorg For Mig Göteborg” was released and started the frenzy. Håkan has continually put out great albums over the years so it’s no surprise to us that “2 Steg Från Paradise” has received rave reviews and even been hailed by some critics as his best work to date. Now, the album is finally available on Spotify so you can hear for yourself! Håkan also made a video for one the singles, “River En Vacker Dröm”.

A year ago Didrik Solli-Tangen was just a student at Barratt Dues Institute of Music who no one knew about. Then he entered a music competition which changed his life overnight. Who would have thought he was going make an album but here he is with the release of his debut, Guilty Pleasures.

Didrik has also put together a playlists of some of his own favourites that you can listen to.

Join the competition to win concert tickets, signed album and meet Didrik Solli-Tangen.

Thomas Eriksen is best known as a songwriter and producer, and has for a long time been a part of the Norwegian and international arena. He is behind artists such as Name and Elisabeth Carew, and has produced for other artists like Mira Craig, Lars Vaular and Micropops. In addition to achieving great success with the debut of The Saturdays from England, he’s one of the few Norwegian producers who’s done international remixes for artists such as Aaliyah, Franz Ferdinand, Martina Topley-Bird and Adem.

Thomas is now establishing himself as a solo artist with experimental electro-pop-rock, and had his debut at by:Larm 2010. His first two singles, Fish Out Of Water and Chameleon went straight into the P3 B-list. Now his debut album Cannibal is finally here!

For more about Thomas Eriksen check out his website and if you are a Premium listener enter a competition for two tickets to see Thomas live at at John Dee in Oslo on November 13th.

A1 are proud to present their brand new album Waiting For Daylight. They’ve spent the better part of the last year writing and recording this album, their first studio album in 8 years. Working with a number of great producers in Norway they’ve had the opportunity to travel across the country performing these new songs to the great Norwegian Public.

They’ve put together a competition where you can win a lot of cool signed A1 stuff, to enter visit the contest site.

Also, check out the three playlists they’ve put together: Digster by Ben i A1,
Digster by Mark i A1, Christian Ingebrigtsens feel good list.

Taio Cruz, the new superstar from London, has become a phenomenon all over the world. With no 1 hits like “Dynamite” and “Break Your Heart” he has shown us his pure talent for making hit songs. With guests like Ludacris and Ke$ha, the album “Rockstarr”, should be mandatory repertoire at any party.

So, we like to party to Taio Cruz. But what does Taio himself put on the stereo when he wants to have a good time? Check out his own playlist to find out: Digster by Taio Cruz

Rather than an annotated playlist for the month that was, this month Drowned in Sound has compiled a selection of playlists to soundtrack your wet summer mornings and the turning of grey afternoon into indian summer evenings…

Drowned in August 2010

August was a strange month for releases. Festivals and the Arcade Fire (strangely absent from Spotify), the fantastic Scott Pilgrim film soundtrack (click to read our interview with the film’s star Michael Cera and director Edgar Wright) and Klaxons kind of overshadowed a lot of really interesting smaller releases but then again, there weren’t a great deal of album of the year contenders. Meanwhile, there were lots of great singles from the likes of Everything Everything and Gonzales. Click here to play and explore this month’s playlist.

Also, if you missed them, click for Drowned in July 2010 and Drowned in June 2010.

Drowned in Sound 2010 - Q2

Earlier this year, we compiled a playlist featuring the best bits of the first quarter of the year (you’ll find that one here) and due to the overwhelming response, we’ve compiled a playlist for Q2, which explores the swirled electronics of Ikonika, LCD Soundsystem and Emeralds before exploring the big guitars and broken hearts of The National and DiS’ one-to-watch tip for 2010/Mercury Music Prize nominee, Villagers.
Click to play this playlist

Reading & Leeds Festival 2010

If you’re heading to Reading & Leeds festival this week or plan to watch the coverage on TV/via the web, here’s a playlist with our picks from the line-up get you in the mood. Or if you have a premium account, to stick on your iPod in the car instead of listening to The Get Up Kids’ back catalogue. Click to play this playlist

The Neptune Music Prize 2010

DiS has announced the nominees for the The Neptune Music prize, our alternative to the Mercury Music Prize. You can vote for your favourite of our picks. If you’re not au fait with all of the nominees, we made this handy Spotify playlist to sample a little bit of each.

Lastly, if you have enjoyed this and/or any of our previous playlists, please take a second to vote for DrownedinSound.com in the BT Digital Music Awards. Thank you.

You’ll find plenty more Spotify playlists by DrownedinSound.com here.

The summer is winding down but our friends over at ShareMyPlaylists.com provide us with yet another in their series of excellent playlist posts to get your week started. You can check out thousands of playlists at ShareMyPlaylists.com - they’ve got a little something for everyone.

Mark Webster’s The Soul Of The Beatles
Eve wondered what the Beatles would have been listening to from the early days in Liverpool to the hazy days towards the end of their career? Well this playlist by playdio gives us a small snippet of what would have been ringing in the ears of the Fab Four. From Isaac Hayes theme tune to Shaft to a live version of Slippin’ Into Darkness by War, it may surprise you. Fascinating playlist.

Soundtrack To July 2010
The first of the month saw iamnottheenemy take a look back to all the tracks that were making it big in July. All the big guns were out in force during the sweltering summer month including Mark Ronson & Business Intl, We Are Scientists, Foals, Bombay Bicycle Club, Faithless, Danger Mouse and many many more. Finding all the good songs so you don’t have to, this playlist is hit after hit.

Continue reading… »

ShareMyPlaylists.com provides us with another in their series of excellent playlist posts. You can check out thousands of playlists at ShareMyPlaylists.com - they’ve got a little something for everyone.

Strictly BASS… Part Five
We hit the ground running this month with the latest in this brilliant series of bulky bass line inspired playlists from syknyk. This month’s the tunes playing havoc with you boom box include Radio 1’s Toddla T, dubstep producer de jour Rusko and Boy 8-Bit.

Undiscovered Prince
The Purple One is back with a new album, 20Ten, which he once again decided to give away for free in some daily rag or other, and to celebrate SMP’s head honcho kieron has put together this brilliant playlist which, in his own words, is “dedicated to some of the best tracks to come out of Paisley Park over the years.” A must for all Prince fans featuring album tracks, remixes and B-sides.

A Song A Day 2010
This is a great concept for a playlist which, as the name suggests, features a song added every day during 2010. Click here for a song to suit every mood. Is your boss giving you trouble? Morrissey - Little Man, What Now? Girlfriend just dumped you? Sinead O’Connor - Nothing Compares 2 U. Do you think you left the iron on at home? Beck - It’s All In Your Mind.

Continue reading… »

We’ve been fans of Facebook for a long time now, so much so that we looked to them for inspiration when building our own social features.

Yesterday they reached a big milestone, 500 million users, and to celebrate they’re collecting stories from their users and asking which ones inspire them. We’re happy to take a small part in this and we’re asking our users to share their music stories with the new Stories tab on our Facebook page.

So if you’ve found a new favourite band after seeing them in your friend’s top artists, attended an amazing festival or maybe you even found love after someone dropped a track in your Spotify inbox - please feel free to share the story.