Wednesday, July 28th, 2010

On Demand Streaming Services Continue To Grow

As you’ve seen over the past 10 years, many on demand music streaming services have launched, with varying models and varying success. From the launch of Rhapsody to the success we’ve seen with Spotify, we’ve always been supporters of these all-access music services and get excited each time a new one launches (like Rdio). PaidContent recently published a succinct overview of the most popular streaming services around the world – check it out here. If you’re feeling lazy, here’s our little recap of their grid:

Rhapsody
remains ahead of the pack with the largest published subscriber base of close to 675,000 subscribers, although this number has been steadily declining.

Napster has continued to be a well-known brand name, despite being “the biggest loser” of the 2005 Super Bowl Ads.

MOG
is fairly new service in the US (soon UK) that offers unlimited streaming ($9.99/mo) with a catalog of 8 million songs. Last week, MOG unveiled its long anticipated mobile app for the iPhone and Android.

Apple
is a wild card. Shortly after Apple shut down recently purchased Lala, many speculated that Apple will step up with a global service of their own. Yet, the future of Apple’s place in online music streaming still remains unknown.

Same goes for Google, who recently hired music attorney Elizabeth Moody. They are rumored to launch a service later this year along with the Android 3.0.

Rdio, a new service currently in preview and soon to launch in the US, thrives on social media and recommendations. Read our longer recap here[JR1] .

Spotify is very similar to Rdio, but Spotify remains unavailable in the US and has so far focused on the European market. Spotify has over 500,000 subscribers in Sweden, Spain, Norway, Finland, France, the Netherlands, and the UK, and there have been many rumors about an impending US launch.

Vodafone, a powerful European mobile carrier, has raked in over 450,000 subscribers across Europe but has been accused of modifying their plan all too often.

And lastly, we7, a UK service co-founded by Peter Gabriel, recently announced that they are able to cover their costs and artist royalties through its advertising revenue.

1 Comment   -
  • Comment by Miguel Angelo | 29 July 2010 @ 11:26 pm

    This are good news for the world of music, best regards from Portugal.

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