The streaming market here in Australia, which still only has one major official entry with Rdio, is set to grow rapidly over the next 12 months with the anticipated arrival of Spotify, and other major players overseas who are looking to expand their customer base.
Now Telstra, usually thought of as a dinosaur, has announced a partnership with American streaming company MOG to launch the service here in Australia.
MOG launched in the United States in 2009, and currently holds about 2% of the streaming market there – facing stiff competition from market leaders Deezer who control 22% of the market and Spotify who hold an incredible 45% of the market.
Beats, owned by phone handeset manufacturer HTC, recently acquired MOG for an undisclosed sum and while the ink is yet to dry on the agreement, HTC no doubt has big plans to roll out the service built-in to their phones.
According to the Sydney Morning Herald, Telstra hasn’t given a specific launch date, other than to say “within months”, and they remain coy on pricing. The American version of the services cost US$10 a month for unlimited streaming.
J.B. Rousselot, Telstra’s director of media, said that while pricing will be a factor, MOG’s ease of use and the ability to switch from iPhone to tablet automatically will make it a ”very attractive proposition” to consumers.
But the entry of MOG into Australia with Telstra doesn’t faze Spotify, who believe the real enemy is global music behemoth iTunes which controls 76% of the global market for digital sales.
“When I listen to music I would prefer to pay less and have access to more,” says Kate Vale, managing director of Spotify Australia, who predicts that the days of iTunes dominance will come to an end as consumers drift away from paying for music to renting it.
Telstra will use its extensive network of subscribers, 2.5 million on fixed broadband and 13 million on mobile, to help launch MOG. Telstra customers will not have to pay bandwidth charges for using the MOG service.
