Deezer Takes On Spotify In 200 Countries, But Not U.S. & Japan
Four years after launching in France followed by Belgium and the UK, music streaming service Deezer will roll out in new territories every week starting December 8th, reaching 200 countries by June of 2012. Here is their aggressive global launch timetable:
- December 8th, 2011: Ireland, The Netherlands
- By December 31st, 2011: Rest of Europe: 45 countries including Spain (Dec. 13th), Italy (Dec. 14th), Germany (Dec. 15th) & Russia (Dec.16th)
- By January 31st, 2012: Canada and Latin America (38 countries)
- By February 28th, 2012: Australasia and Africa (41 countries)
- By June 30th, 2012: Rest of the world (115 countries)
But, the U.S. and Japan are not part of Deezer's plans, presumably in part because of the cost and difficulty in licensing music. Deezer's official line is that they have "chosen not to focus on the USA and Japan, which only represent 25% of global music consumption, due to market saturation and low growth forecasts.
The launch will be coordinated with Facebook and become the first legal digital music service available in some countries who have Facebook users with no access to legal online music. The Deezer territories will represent 75% of the worldwide music market as forecast by 2016 and the company promises local distribution and a localized adaptation of the service in each country:
- Adapted prices in 12 languages
- 30 independent editorial zones
- 13 currencies
- Distribution agreements with local mobile carriers
Yet another Spotify/Grooveshark/Last FM business model based on short term greed. Fill a short term need by not paying the artists and writers, hoping that it will become a brand leader and able to sort out that thorny issue of paying people later. What other businesses can set up globally with content it doesn’t own and worry about getting permission later?
Music isn’t free and shouldn’t be. I am all in favour of creative models for online music services but paying the artists and writers is always an afterthought.
Deezer and Spotify are actually paying artists from day one as they don’t use UGC to run their service, you should not mix them up with businesses who have a “different approach”. With all the diverse opinions about these new streaming models it’s important to look at the right facts…