Psonar to Offer ‘Pay As You Go’ Music Service
Early on, the single introduced music to kids.
It was a cheap way to decide which albums to buy. Many argue that the single helped establish a record buying habit in youth that would carry on for the rest of their lives.
Today, kids use YouTube and file sharing as a cheap why to decide which singles to buy, and well, "not" buy. A new music service called Psonar is hoping to achieve a similar feat, to offer fans a cheap way to listen to music in general. For a Cent per play, the service will let users stream any song they want. They can 'pay as they go' or buy 5$ worth, i.e. 500 streams. It also lets friends "gift" playlists to each other.
Psonar has an interesting business model; it aims to position itself between the gray area of buying songs or paying a monthly fee to a subscription service. In some ways, the service does target kids that are looking for a cheap and legal method to consume music. A Cent per play doesn't seem like too much to ask.
The only difficulty that Psonar will face is that kids now have access to a glut of free ways to access music and they're learning about the services early on.
Music piracy, as a practice, has proven that it doesn't die; it just evolves.
As much as we'd like kids, as well as others, to take up a 'pay as you go' music service, many have been conditioned to believe that music streaming should also be free, ad-supported, and always available. The idea that kids should pay a Cent per stream feels like the single reborn, a way for to kids to discover music, but it feels too late to game to matter. Time will tell if 'pay as you go' music takes off.
Psonar has secured a deal with The Orchard, but has is yet to seal agreements with the major labels. The company plans to launch first in Ireland and Canada.
Then, it plans to expand to the closest proxies which are UK and the US.
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More: An Ocean of Pennies: Pay-Per-Play Music Streaming Service Launches.
songs were offered for streaming at the very same price point a couple of years ago over here in Austria – the results were abysmally disappointing. I can’t imagine anybody paying a cent for streaming a song, when one finds so much content for free (e.g. youtube). adding to this: how are kids gonna pay their streams?
sorry psonar, but that won’t work.
My math says $5.00 buys 500, not 5,000 streams. I hate to sound cheap, but a penny a play is way too much for streaming music.
For many, even casual, music fans that would amount to more than $25/month. For that money, a person could buy – and forever own – more than 30 albums in a year.
Do people still do that?
Thanks for catching that Rob. I've updated the post. Like you suggest, a penny does actually add up.
agree, why pay, even 1 cent, for something you’re basically “trying out”, when you can do it for free?
I agree with Don. I don’t think tweens and young teenagers will bother with this service if it requires asking their parents for a credit/debit card. You may get some of the young teenagers that have min-wage jobs, but unless they are really dedicated to listening to music everyday or can’t find a specific song on youtube or facebook/myspace, that’s the only way they would turn to a service like Psonar. If you’re just a passive listener (listening while getting ready for school/waiting for your parents to pick you up) you’d be better off with Pandora, since it’s essentially free.