Samsung digital music service coming soon to U.S.
Samsung Electronics Co. is expected to launch a digital music service in the U.S. within the next few weeks, the Korean technology giant confirmed Thursday.
The new service, dubbed Music Hub, will be very similar to one that Samsung already offers in the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Spain; it charges 9.99 pounds a month in the U.K. and 9.99 Euros elsewhere.
Subscribers there can stream on-demand songs from a catalog of more than 15 million tracks, create custom radio stations akin to Pandora and upload their current music collection to an online “locker” where they can call up tunes from any Internet connection. They can also purchase digital downloads of tracks or albums.
The catch is that the service is only available on Samsung’s Galaxy S III smartphones, at least for now.
Samsung declined to disclose the pricing or launch date for the U.S. debut of Music Hub, which is developed by mSpot, a mobile music company based in Palo Alto that Samsung purchased in May for an undisclosed amount.
Once in the U.S., Samsung will compete with a slew of rivals, including Spotify, Rhapsody, Rdio and Pandora.
RELATED:
HTC invests $300 million in Beats Electronics
Beats Electronics buys MOG digital music service
Google Music debuts, slugs it out with Apple, Amazon
From the Oscars to the Emmys.
Get the Envelope newsletter for exclusive awards season coverage, behind-the-scenes stories from the Envelope podcast and columnist Glenn Whipp’s must-read analysis.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
