PaidContent: The Celestial Jukebox: Unlimited Music Services Face Off
Great overview of current unlimited music services by PaidContent.org.
Permalink: http://paidcontent.co.uk/table/unlimitedmusic
The Celestial Jukebox: Unlimited Music Services Face Off
Our run-down of runners and riders in the emerging field of unlimited, on-demand subscription music services. Read the preamble.
| Service | Region | Users | Subs | Catalog | Tier 1 | Tier 2 | Info | Chances |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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UK, Swe, Nor, Fin, Fra, Spa, Hol | 7m+ | 500,000 | “Millions” | Free: Ads, up to 20hrs/pm. £4.99pm: No ads, unltd app streaming. | £9.99pm: No ads, unlimited streaming, mobile access, offline and overseas play, 320Kbps. | Typically slick Swedish software innovation, much loved in Europe, Scandinavia. | Clock ticking in US. Must find carrier partners amongst mobile, TV, other sectors fast in all territories or risk remaining a startup. |
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US beta | – | – | 5m | $4.99pm: Unlimited web streaming. | $9.99pm: Unlimited web streaming and mobile access. | Assembled by Skype/Joost entrepreneurs Janus Friis and Niklas Zennstrom. | Very similar feature set to Spotify, but boasts critical US headstart. |
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US | – | 675,000 at Q409. | 9.5m | $9.99pm Rhapsody Premier: Unlimited PC or web streaming, 1 device. | $14.99pm Rhapsody Premier: Unlimited PC or web streaming, 3 devices inc mobile/MP3. | “Grossing $130m a year and will be profitable by the end of the year” | Declining userbase, but still possibly the biggest service right now. Spin-off from Real will lend it focus. |
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US, soon UK | Won’t disclose. | Won’t disclose. | 8m | Free social web features. Unlimited web streaming $5pm via All Access sub. | $9.99 for mobile access including All Access web sub. | Built atop a web ads network and copious social web features that means strong community and staff-led discovery. | Being web-based rather than an app gives it desktop portability (ie. office, home PC, laptop). |
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US, Can, UK, Ger | Won’t disclose. | Won’t disclose. | 10m | Unlimited streaming and 5 MP3s for £5pm/$5pm. | Or unlimited streaming plus 12 MP3s for £10pm, 15 MP3s for ?15. | It’s Napster – ’nuff said. | Despite losing its rebellious edge, the brand name is enough to keep Napster a big contender. |
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23 countries | ? | None yet. Sold 10bn+ individual songs to date. | 12m for download | – | – | Rumor stage: Apple will create a streaming or locker service out of Lala, which it bought and shut. | Apple is more likely to launch a service strongly tied to users’ offline iTunes libraries than one which streams unlimited from the cloud. May not go as far as it could. |
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Europe | – | 450,000+ | 6m | £5pm for 10 MP3s. | ?£1.99pw for unlimited DRM’ed in-app downloads. | By the numbers, one of the most popular unlimited music services. | In a strong position re: mobile music, but too frequently chops and changes its proposition. |
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Various | – | Unclear how many handset owners take the offer. | “Millions” | All costs absorbed in handset price (itself subsidised in many markets). | – | Unlimited “free” music downloads – the ultimate proposition. | Nokia has squandered the offer with poor software and sync experience, availability on few handsets and spartan carrier distribution. May not be rescuable without big change. |
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UK | 3m UUs/pm (1.5m website, rest via off-site widgets) | Thousands | 5m | Free: Ads.
£4.99pm: Web streaming, no ads. |
£9.99pm: Web streaming with no ads plus mobile | Funded by Peter Gabriel, Spark, Eden. Lower profile than competitors but settled on a model after early tinkering. | Now at a make-or-break point, convinced ad-funded music economics stack up. |
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US, UK, Ger | 40m UUs/pm | – | “Millions” of full tracks from four majors and indies. | Free web playback with on-page banner advertising. Officially, no plans for subscription. | – | MySpace = music, tracks are there but this still feels more a social net than a music service per se. | Like MySpace itself, would benefit from less clutter. Doesn’t hang together as a music service first and foremost. But MySpace’s music associations are strong. |
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US, global soon | Not disclosed. | Not disclosed. | “Millions” | $14.99 per month for Zune Pass. | – | Unlimited web streaming. Unlimited downloads for the life of a Zune Pass. Plus 10 downloads per | Has undergone tweaked ever since launch in 2006, eg. adding option to keep 10 songs a month in fall 2008. A Microsoft executive recently told Bloomberg Business Week a price cut was under consideration. |
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UK | Won’t disclose. | Won’t disclose. | 5m | £4.99pm: Unlimited web streaming + 5 MP3s | No mobile | Powered by Omnifone | Unusually, available to all, not just Sky TV/broadband customers – so no cross-selling leverage. |
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UK | None | None | Only UMG | Bundle of MP3s for unknown price. | Unlimited MP3s for monthly price less than cost of two albums. | Vapourware: announced in ’09 to show UK govt. legal services can be alternative to piracy. Orginal idea to licence P2P was aborted. | ISP bundling could work, but lack of progress inspires little confidence, while other services steal march. |
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US | Won’t disclose. | Won’t disclose. | Uploaded from user’s machine. | Free with 2Gb upload space. | Between $2.99pm for 10Gb and $13.99pm for 100Gb. | This locker model is more old-fashioned than unlimited access, depends on legal file ownership and susceptible to illegal uploads. | Cloud-centric but wedded to local file ownership, it’s likely to be overtaken by unlimited access. |
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– | – | – | – | – | – | Christmas launch along with Android 3.0, says Android engineer. | Google’s better as a search index than a service provider, and global music licensing is complex. Maybe it should just play with third parties. |
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US | Won’t disclose. | Won’t disclose. | 9m | Free three-day trial. | Price not clear from site. | Like Spotify, it plays in a PC/Mac app plus on iOS, Android, BlackBerry, including offline mobile play. | The features are just like Spotify’s, but already work in the U.S. When tested, some key website pages were broken. |
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US | 15m UUS/pm, 5m registered users | Won’t disclose | 10m (indies but only EMI amongst majors) | Free web-based streaming with ads. | $3pm for no-ads and mobile access. | Unusually, users populate the service by uploading songs. Grooveshark says this is legal “in the exact same way that YouTube is legal”, DMCA compliance. | Dependence on user upload means catalog gaps. A history of legal attention plus absence of three majors leaves a hint of suspicion. |
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Swe, Swi, Hun, Sing, Cro, Bra, Mex, Hol, Austria | Won’t disclose. | Won’t disclose. | Unclear – varies from country to country. | Unlimited downloads to mobile/PC, price bundled in to handset cost on 6-24mth subs. Plus 10 DRM-free tracks per month to keep forever. | – | SonyEricsson’s version of Nokia Comes With Music, the unlimited offer is appealing but locks users to the device or sub. Built on Omnifone. | Unclear how well it’s doing and, so, stands to do. |
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UK, Ger, Fra, Ita, Spa, Hol, Bel, Austria, Swe, Swi | Won’t disclose. | Won’t disclose. | Unclear – varies from country to country. | £8.99/€9.99pm: Unlimited DRM’ed downloads to PC. Plus 10 DRM-free tracks per month. | – | It’s Omnifone’s MusicStation service (also on Vodafone), but bundled on the desktop of new HP/Compaq machines, and minus mobile access. | Bundling on HP PCs should mean a big opportunity. But locks consumers to playing on HP machine. |
Posted by Ted • Monday, August 16, 2010 .