The on demand music service, Deezer, will be making a crash landing in the world’s biggest music market coming next year. According to a major label source, the France-based service will be headed to the United States in 2014. One Deezer representative said that the company has been “prioritizing growing markets” with low costs. Since there is high costs in the U.S., the spokesperson also added that “it’s no secret that we’ve been in discussions about possible strategic partnerships to speed up our launch in the U.S.”
“Deezer’s arrival would give the United States the world’s two largest on-demand music subscription services. Backed by a $130 million investment from Access Industries, Deezer has more than five million global subscribers, up from two million a year earlier. The quality of that number was brought into question, however. A recent Financial Times article claimed Deezer’s figure includes subscribers through telecom bundles and about half of the five million subscriptions were inactive. Spotify, available in the United States for more than two years, claims more than six million global subscribers, although the figure is nearly a year old and undoubtedly outdated.
A late arrival means Deezer will face numerous competitors from a standing start. Muve Music has 1.9 million subscribers. Rhapsody is thought to have about 1 million subscribers, most within the United States. Google Play Music All Access, Rdio, Sony Music Unlimited and Slacker’s on-demand tier of service are also available here. Additional subscription services are on the way from YouTube and Beats Music.
A partnership with a mobile carrier would help Deezer quickly gain momentum in the United States. The company has employed the strategy in many other countries to help enter markets and acquire subscribers in a relatively affordable manner. For example, it has partnered with T-Mobile in Austria, Millicom in Latin America (under the Tigo brand) and Orange in Poland, Mauritius and Ivory Coast.”
Via BillboardBiz
UPDATE: it has recently been confirmed from Deezer themselves that they will launch business in the U.S. in 2014.
“Recently, Deezer narrowed the paid subscriber gap with Spotify passing the 5 million mark. That’s up from 2 million paid users in October of 2012. Spotify claimed 6 million paid subscribers as of May 2013. Deezer also says it offers 30 million tracks, 10 million more than Spotify.
But with increasing competition from Spotify, Rdio, Rhapsody, Google, iTunes Radio, XBox Music and the yet to launch Beats Music service, Deezer will likely find a partner to help enter the U.S. market.”
Via Hypebot
