FYI.

This story is over 5 years old.

Games

Spotify Powering Playstation's New Music Hub is A Win-Win

The streaming music service, Sony, and customers alike will all benefit immensely.
Photo via Uncrate.

Spotify's latest collaboration may well be its biggest yet, as Sony announced this week that the streaming music service will be powering its new media platform, Playstation Music, for the PS3 and PS4. Explaining the update on their official blog, Sony Network Entertainment Vice President Eric Lempel revealed that the service will be available for both paid and free Spotify subscribers in 41 countries this spring. Free and paid users will be able to listen to their playlists, stream music in-game, and create or link to their Spotify accounts via Playstation Network. For both Sony and Spotify, this deal is an enormous win-win.

Advertisement

First, it puts Spotify's service in the homes of an enormous number of people. As of January, 2015, there have been 10 million Playstation 4s sold and well over 80 million Playstation 3s. Even when you factor in consoles that are no longer in use and users that already have Spotify accounts, this number dwarfs Spotify's current 40 million active users. The deal also increases the service's value for current subscribers: rather than setting up new profiles on Playstation, users can instead make use of the playlists that they have already lovingly crafted.

For Sony, Spotify immediately solves long-standing issues that users and critics have had with their built-in offering, Music Unlimited. Current PS4 owners will not likely be familiar with the half-baked media platform. Universally loathed, Music Unlimited drew widespread criticism for not allowing customers to play CDs or mp3—tasks that the PS4's predecessor, the PS3, was able to do. It wasn't until a relatively recent update that customers were finally given the simple ability to play songs off of an external USB stick.

Less obvious benefits may also be created further down the line. Cash-strapped indie game developers will no longer need to pay to license songs, and can instead suggest playlists; the streaming industry may finally get a big enough boost to pay people out properly; gamers will no longer have to endure terrible soundtracks. The list goes on and on.

There are times when we question why companies do things, or who could possibly care. This is not one of those times. Spotify's partnership with Sony is good for business, good for music, and great for consumers.

Update:To clarify, the service is being unveiled in the spring and is not immediately available.

Ziad Ramley is on Twitter