Sony to shutter iTunes & Beats Music competitor Music Unlimited, partner with Spotify
Struggling Japanese electronics maker Sony has conceded defeat in the digital music market, announcing on Wednesday that it will close its cross-platform Music Unlimited service at the end of March and refer customers to another iTunes & Beats Music competitor, Spotify.
In an announcement published on the official Playstation Blog, Eric Lempel, vice president of Sony Network Entertainment revealed that Music Unlimited will close in all 19 countries it serves on March 29. Music Unlimited debuted on Apple's iOS platform with a dedicated app in 2012.
Replacing the subscription service is a partnership with Spotify, which has been branded as "Spotify on PlayStation Music." Sony will initially launch the service on its PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 3 consoles, before later arriving on Xperia smartphones and tablets.
Sony's unlimited music subscriptions never gained much traction against the likes of Spotify, iTunes, Pandora, or even the iTunes Radio streaming service, which Apple debuted in 2013. Apple also entered the on-demand streaming service, taking on the likes of Spotify, with its acquisition of Beats Music last year.
The digital music market has been transitioning away from song and album sales, which Apple still offers on the iTunes Store, and toward subscription streaming models. While Apple remains the leader in digital music sales, its iTunes Radio product lags behind Pandora in personalized Internet radio, while Spotify remains the market leader ahead of Beats Music.
Rumors have suggested that Apple plans to rebrand its recently acquired Beats Music service, bringing it under the iTunes umbrella. It's been reported that Beats Music will relaunch this year, completely rebuilt and integrated into iTunes.
In an announcement published on the official Playstation Blog, Eric Lempel, vice president of Sony Network Entertainment revealed that Music Unlimited will close in all 19 countries it serves on March 29. Music Unlimited debuted on Apple's iOS platform with a dedicated app in 2012.
Replacing the subscription service is a partnership with Spotify, which has been branded as "Spotify on PlayStation Music." Sony will initially launch the service on its PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 3 consoles, before later arriving on Xperia smartphones and tablets.
Sony's unlimited music subscriptions never gained much traction against the likes of Spotify, iTunes, Pandora, or even the iTunes Radio streaming service, which Apple debuted in 2013. Apple also entered the on-demand streaming service, taking on the likes of Spotify, with its acquisition of Beats Music last year.
The digital music market has been transitioning away from song and album sales, which Apple still offers on the iTunes Store, and toward subscription streaming models. While Apple remains the leader in digital music sales, its iTunes Radio product lags behind Pandora in personalized Internet radio, while Spotify remains the market leader ahead of Beats Music.
Rumors have suggested that Apple plans to rebrand its recently acquired Beats Music service, bringing it under the iTunes umbrella. It's been reported that Beats Music will relaunch this year, completely rebuilt and integrated into iTunes.
Comments
Sony has really lost their way with regard to the consumer, other than their PS3 (or 4, or whatever number it is now).
Sony has really lost their way with regard to the consumer, other than their PS3 (or 4, or whatever number it is now).
All their divisions are profitable now, excepting the smartphone division. The problem is that the smartphone division is so unprofitable it eats all the profits from the other divisions.
Wow, now that's a confusing title. :-)
Never heard of this crap - so good riddance.
They always made great pro video equipment, I hope that division doesn't get dragged down by the consumer side of things.
Yes I had to read that several times ... imagine being beaten with a spotify! The mind boggles.
They always made great pro video equipment, I hope that division doesn't get dragged down by the consumer side of things.
Sony has always made great products. The problem with them is that any attempt at a product that includes a software component ended up becoming such a horrible, horrendous mess of confusion, instability, and shoddy work. They could have been a dominant player years ago during the iPod era but frankly, trying to force-feed their DRM on everyone I think doomed them to obsolescence.
I like their phones designs though.
I'm starting to think of S.G.I. .. How ironic was it that they became widely known to the public for their re-creation of the dinosaur, only to become one later themselves.
I'm starting to think of S.G.I. .. How ironic was it that they became widely known to the public for their re-creation of the dinosaur, only to become one later themselves.
Turn echo off
Years later they came out with this music store and I completely avoided it because I knew they'd do the exact same thing after a year or two.
I was 100% right. Sony is not a company that can be relied on for many, many things.
Pay the artists more and offer the customer more.
With the catalogue iTunes has, they should make a service that streams music, movies, TV shows and more.*
*i know they can't just do that but if anyone has the power to do so....
I don't think I've ever used Music Unlimited, ever. Not even downloaded the App. I mostly use Pandora. I like the radio style randomness of Pandora and even Apple streaming music isn't to bad, though the App needs improvement.
When Music Unlimited started it was called 'qriocity'. (I had to look that up and I had to copy and paste it because can't pronounce it which means I sure as heck can't spell it which means there's no way I can type it into a web browser and use the service.)
Shouldn't marketing 101 be something like, make sure people can pronounce and spell your product name?
It's called the Vita, and it's completely new, original, and awesome.
The Vita isn't exactly new, but it is absolutely awesome.