Sony Music is one of the biggest music industry publishers, but their online service ‘Music Unlimited’ hasn’t lived up to the ‘Spotify Killer’ origins. So they are making the smart move of partnering with Spotify to bring music streaming to Playstation 3 and 4 and Xperia phone and tablet owners on the Playstation Network.
I was one of those people who joined Sony’s Qriocity back in 2010 when it launched, and then tried again with Music Unlimited when the service was renamed … but honestly it was just never good enough to merit the cost when compared to services such as MOG, Rdio and Spotify. With this announcement you can now link your Spotify account with your PSN account, and pay for the service through your PSN Wallet.
This is great for both Sony and Spotify – great for Spotify as it broadens their reach, and great for Sony as it lowers overhead and gives them more global entertainment appeal.
The loser in this announcement? Playstation Vita users … like me. Aside from not even getting mentioned in the press release below or on the Sony blog, the Vita will lose the YouTube app in April (download already gone), and will lose Maps functionality with a March system update, which will cause much of the ‘Near’ app to become useless. In fact, on the Playstation blog one commenter speculates the Vita should be considered ‘end of life’ due to “no Playstation Vue, shut down Skype, Google Maps, YouTube, and Music Unlimited with no new apps to lessen the blow.”
Here is the press release:
Sony Network Entertainment International LLC (SNEI) and Spotify today announced a global strategic partnership to deliver a best-in-class digital music experience to PlayStation Network and its 64 million active users1. Through this partnership, SNEI will launch a new music destination in Spring 2015 called PlayStation Music, with Spotify as the exclusive partner. Spotify on PlayStation Music will roll out in 41 markets, initially for PlayStation® consoles and Xperia™ smartphones and tablets.
“Music is a core component of the entertainment offering that consumers expect from Sony, and our goal with PlayStation Music is to provide the most compelling music experiences to the millions of PlayStation Network users around the world,” said Andrew House, President and Group CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. and Group Executive in charge of the Network Entertainment Business. “This partnership represents the best in music and the best in gaming coming together, which will benefit the vibrant and passionate communities of both Spotify and PlayStation Network. We’re thrilled to make Spotify the foundation of our strategy with PlayStation Music.”
PlayStation Network and Spotify’s award-winning digital music service will be deeply integrated, offering unique and exclusive benefits to users. PlayStation Network users can link their accounts with Spotify, making it easy to subscribe to Spotify’s Premium service through the PlayStation Network wallet.
“We are incredibly honored to partner with Sony and PlayStation to give gamers around the world an amazing experience wherever they listen to music,” said Daniel Ek, CEO and Founder, Spotify. “As a gamer and PlayStation 4 user myself, I’m super excited to be able to soundtrack my FIFA 15 Arsenal matches later this spring.”
Spotify on PlayStation Music will offer more than 30 million songs and 1.5 billion playlists on PlayStation®4 (PS4™) and PlayStation®3 (PS3™) systems, as well as Xperia smartphones and tablets. Users will be able to create a music collection and listen to playlists (including existing playlists from current Spotify users as well as Spotify curated playlists) and enjoy the service on all of Spotify’s supported devices. Additionally, PS4 owners will be able to use Spotify while playing games, enabling them to soundtrack their gaming sessions with their favorite songs playing in the background.
SNEI’s current Music Unlimited service will close in all 19 countries on March 29, 2015. Nearly all of these countries will be among the 41 markets2 where PlayStation Music featuring Spotify will be available at launch3. From February 28, 2015, Music Unlimited users with active subscriptions will receive free access to Music Unlimited through March 29, 2015, and will be offered an introductory Spotify Premium trial.
