Contenders 2013: Halfway Point Cumulative List and New Streaming Options

I may have been too quick to judge Spotify.  Two years ago, when the service first made its U.S. debut, I used to make Spotify playlists for the monthly Contenders mix, and I'd always be disappointed when they would sometimes have less than half the songs on my list.  It's always been a great resource for the classics (and its mobile app is infinitely better than Rhapsody's), but I never really considered it a vehicle for discovering new music.

With the death of Yahoo! Media Player, I've been looking for a new streaming service, so I decided to give Spotify another try.  We're halfway through 2013, and I've shortlisted 184 songs so far.  Spotify had ... 155 of them.  84%.  That's actually ... pretty good.  Spotify it is!

Here's the cumulative list for 2013 in widget form:

I'll keep this playlist updated for the rest of the year.  Monthly Contenders mixes have been created as well:

January (28/32 songs)

February (32/35)

March (32/35)

April (25/30)

May (20/30, the best mix of the year and sadly the only one where Spotify comes up lacking)

June (18/22)

For the songs that haven't made it to Spotify's library yet, I've tried to include streaming links to Soundcloud or YouTube where applicable.  Let me know what you think of the new format.  For now, I'll keep making a ZIP of the entire mix available for download, but we may move toward a more fledgling legality as it becomes more convenient.