We have written much lately about the digital music streaming services spearheaded by the likes of Spotify and now those serial digitaria Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis have entered the race. These were the two behind Kazaa and Skype and the failed TV service Joost. The service will obviously mimic others and pick up the libraries of the major players and create a subscription streaming service that’s between desktop and mobile. It is expected to be initially rolled out in the US.
So we now have a crowed space with Pandora, Napster, Nokia, Last FM, Sky and others all trying to capture the streaming market.
From the book world it is interesting to note that this emerging market is only possible because the labels retained their digital content and didn’t rely on others to digitise and own the content.
However the music streaming world isn't all plane sailing and news today of Nokia's 'Comes With Music' service is not good with the service struggling to make any impact. Music Ally claim that only some 107,000 users have signed up for the service worldwide, with 32,000 of these being in the UK. The service which was launched in December 2007 allows subscribers to legally download more than six million tracks and keep them forever, has failed to take off whilst the likes of Spotify have exploded. It may be a lesson to those who assume that their brand and wallet guarantee success.
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