Spotify, an award-winning music service that was founded in Sweden in 2008 and has since built up an audience of over 10 million listeners. The service allows users to play millions of tracks instantly on their computers and phones and after three years of getting more and more popular, they opened up memberships in the U.S. late last week. Going the same route Google did with their Gmail web-based email service and the recently-released Google+ social networking service, U.S. accounts for Spotify are invite-only.

By making a service only available to those who can score an invite from a friend, that brand is creating immense buzz for their service. I have seen countless people taking to their Twitter and Facebook accounts in hopes of someone with a Spotify account seeing their request and sharing the love. While it may seem as if Spotify are limiting the amount of people who will utilize their service, they are actually attracting even more people to it by quite literally forcing people to talk about them. People are much more likely to try a service changing the way they listen to music on their computers and on the go if they see a lot of people talking about it.

If you’ve been searching for that friend who will share the experience of the new music service with you but can’t seem to get an invite, Spotify has partnered with Klout in a move that has made social media influencers on Twitter and Facebook very happy. Just visit the Klout Perks page, sign in to your Klout account or create an account (you can sign in with your Twitter or Facebook account), and you’ll know immediately if you have qualified for a Spotify Free account.