T-Mobile made a couple of interesting announcements today at its Uncarrier 5.0 event in Seattle, both involving music streaming for its customers. I think we should actually start with the second one, because its, to me, the more important move of the two.
T-Mobile has announced that it is going to allow its Simple Choice customers to stream music from a wide variety of services, including Pandora, Rhapsody, iHeartRadio, iTunes Radio, Slacker, and Spotify, and the carrier will not be counted toward a customer's data plan.
This also includes music services from T-Mobile partners, such as Samsung’s Milk Music and the forthcoming Beatport music app from SFX.
“As a committed music freak, I’m personally outraged at the way the other guys are using the music you love to lure you into over-priced plans with sweet ‘promotional offers’ that quickly roll into higher prices or trigger those absurd overage charges,” T-Mobile CEO and President John Legere, said. “Music should be free of all that. Music should have no limits"
This move by T-Mobile could be a big, big deal. Music streaming, as I am sure you are aware, has become big business. According to Mary Meeker's 2014 Internet trends report, for the first time ever digital track sales actually declined year to year, though streaming is on the rise. Streaming was up 32%, while digital track sales went down 6%.
However there is one thing standing in the way: data plans. According to a study cited by T-Mobile, 37% of people say they avoid streaming on their phones because they fear that they’ll use up their data and run into overage charges.
Now T-Mobile could become the go-to carrier for music lovers. If this program is successful enough, perhaps other carriers could follow suit, and maybe, just maybe, soon none of us will be paying anything extra for music streaming. Sounds pretty great to me!
As for the other music streaming-related news, T-Mobile also announced that it is partnering with Rhapsody for a new Internet radio service called unRadio. The service will be ad free, let users skip as much as they want, choose their own music and replay songs any time.
Users can also create their own stations, live stream radio stations, and use a feature called TrackMatch, which allows users to create stations around songs that are playing around them.
Simple Choise T-Mobile customers will be getting unRadio for free starting June 23rd, while other customers will have to pay $4, which is discounted rate. T-Mobile did not say how long the promotion will last, or how much unRadio will cost when it is over.
There are a lot of carriers out there to choose from, but I wonder if T-Mobile may have just found the prescription for getting people's attention.
(Image source: t-mobile.com)
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Pandora, the leading internet radio service, gives people music they love
anytime, anywhere, through a wide variety of connected devices: laptop and
desktop computers, smartphones, connected BluRay players, connected TVs,
etc. Personalized stations launch instantly with the input of a single “seed” –
a favorite artist, song or genre. The Music Genome Project®, a deeply
detailed, hand-built musical taxonomy, powers the personalization or
Pandora. Using this musicological “DNA” and constant listener feedback
Pandora crafts personalized stations from the more than 800,000 songs that
have been analyzed since the project began in January 2000.
More than 75 million people throughout the United States listen to
personalized radio stations for free on Pandora through their PCs, mobile
phones and devices such as the iPad, and connected in-house devices
ranging from TVs to set-top boxes to Blu-Ray players. Mobile technology has
been a significant factor in the growth and popularity of Pandora, starting
with the introduction of the Apple app store for the iPhone in the summer of
2008. Pandora instantly became one of the most top downloaded apps and
today, according to Nielsen, is one of the top five most popular apps across
all smartphone platforms.
Pandora is free, simple and, thanks to connectivity, available everywhere
consumers are – at the office, at home, in the car and all points in between.
In 2009 the Company announced that Pandora would be incorporated into
the dashboard in Ford cars via SYNC technology; GM has already followed in
announcing plans to integrate Pandora into its vehicles and Mercedes-Benz
introduced their Media Interface Plus device that works with the
free Pandora iPhone app to provide direct control of Pandora from in-dash
stereo controls. This was all great news for the millions of Pandora listeners
who had been plugging their smartphones into car dashboards to listen to
personalized stations while driving. More than 50 percent of radio listening
happens in the car, making it a crucial arena for Pandora.
Today tens of millions of people have a deeply personal connection with
Pandora based on the delight of personalized radio listening and discovery.
These highly engaged listeners reinforce the value Pandora provides to: 1)
musicians, who have found in Pandora a level playing field on which their
music has a greater chance of being played than ever before; 2) advertisers,
who benefit from the multi-platform reach of Pandora, as well as its best
practices in targeting consumers for specific campaigns; 3) the music
industry, which has found in Pandora a highly effective distribution channel;
and 4) automobile and consumer electronics device manufacturers, who have
noted that incorporating Pandora into their product makes it more valuable
to consumers.
Pandora continues to focus on its business in the United States. The radio
arena has never been hotter, thanks to technology that enables radio to be
personalized to the individual and more accessible than ever before. Right
now millions of people listen to Pandora in the United States and we hope
someday to bring Pandora to billions of people around the world.
Timeline:
• 2000 – Tim Westergren’s Music Genome Project begins.
• 2005 – Pandora launches on the web.
• 2008 – Pandora app becomes one of the most consistently downloaded
apps in the Apple store.
• 2009 – Ford announces Pandora will be incorporated into car
dashboard. Alpine and Pioneer begin selling aftermarket radios that
connect to consumers’ iPhones and puts the control and command of
Pandora into the car dashboard.
• 2010 – Pandora is present on more than 200 connected consumer
electronics devices ranging from smartphones to TVs to set-top boxes
to Blu-ray players and is able to stream visual, audio, and interactive
advertising to computers, smartphones, iPads, and in-home connected
devices.