Line is also ready to compete with Spotify
In the offices of large multinational record companies in the world the past weeks have had to be frantic. If on Monday Apple introduced itself as a platform to compete in the world of music streaming, now who is ready to compete with Spotify is Line. The instant messaging application has launched a new music service in Japan, after a month of testing in Thailand.
In the case of the Japanese company decided to follow the same model that Apple and discarding the model “freemium”, which so far has led to Spotify to accumulate 75 million active users worldwide. Although during the first weeks of service among Thai users the price of monthly service was $2, the base rate with which debuted in Japan is $4.
The basic fee gives access to 20 hours of music and 1.5 million music catalog. If you want to pay a flat fee, all members will have to pay $8. Subscribers shall have two months free. However, for younger, Line created a student discount, a $2.50 and another of $5, respectively.
Given that Japan is the country where CD still survives successfully, Line thinks that its music streaming service will grow “step by step”, but the company declined to comment on when it will be a global launch. According to some sources have said, the new streaming service will give the possibility to have a program for computers and create a multi-device application.
Keep in mind that Line has a large number of users -around 205 million- in Japan, Thailand and Taiwan. Online music streaming has been brewing for several months since the company is associated with two local labels. Interestingly, the launch of Spotify or Pandora are not present in the land of the rising sun, where the music sales in physical formats still dominate the market. Line also reinforces the intention to diversify its revenue beyond the adhesives and microgames within its application.