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 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
UK, Swe, Nor, Fin, Fra, Spa, Hol |
7m+ |
“Millions” |
Free: Ads, up to 20hrs/pm. |
£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. |
|
|
UK |
3m UUs/pm (1.5m website, rest via off-site widgets) |
Thousands |
6.5m |
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. |
|
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. |
|
US |
– |
675,000 at Q409. |
$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. |
|
|
US, soon UK |
Won’t disclose. |
Won’t disclose. |
8m |
Free social web features. |
$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). |
|
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. |
|
Europe |
– |
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. |
|
|
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. |
|
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. |
|
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. |
|
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. |
|
– |
– |
– |
– |
– |
– |
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. |
|
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. |
|
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. |
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. |
|
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. |
|
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. |
|
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. |
|
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. |
|
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. |
Are we missing anyone? Get in touch.