Microsoft Launching U.K. Music-Streaming Service This Month
By Jeffrey Hyatt
Microsoft will touchdown in the U.K. later this month with a new music-streaming service to rival sites like Spotify.
The music service from Microsoft, according to a report today in the UK Telegraph, will offer users the chance to stream music for free and also download to own. The service would be operated and owned by Microsoft, while being promoted through MSN and other parts of the Microsoft network.
No word yet on a U.S. launch.
Peter Bale, executive producer of MSN, Microsoft’s news and entertainment portal, told the paper exclusively:
“Music is an important area for Microsoft. We are looking at launching a music streaming service imminently. It will be a similar principle to Spotify but we are still examining how the business model will work.”
The Bale interview reveals the possibility of a service tie-in with Microsoft’s Xbox gaming console; a music-streaming component might further bolster the global software company’s strategy to make its Xbox 360 console an entertainment hub for the family home. The U.K. launch might just be a taste of things to come – worldwide.
Presently users are able to download movies through their console and play games against one another online.
Of course any music site can only help the up-and-down fortunes of Zune, Microsoft’s music player. In the Telegraph report Bale said ‘the knowledge of the music industry the company had gleaned via Zune and also the player’s technology, had all been incorporated into the service’s development process.’
Perhaps there is a Bing! tie-in somewhere with this music service. Either way, the online music-streaming space just got a lot more competitive – and interesting.
Microsoft has yet to sign with a download partner as it ramps up for a late July launch of the new, music service. On the flip-side, Spotify is linked up with 7digital.
