Google gets musical with purchase of streaming service Songza
As part of a trend towards consolidation in the digital music space, Google has acquired the music streaming service Songza
Google's acquisition of Songza follows the moves of Amazon and Apple into music streaming services. Still, the company will have to up its game it is to compete with rivals Spotify and Pandora, which have tens of millions of active users
Following fast in the footsteps of close rivals Apple and Amazon, Google has announced the acquisition of music streaming service Songza, becoming the latest big name to up the ante in the digital music space.
‘Today, we’re thrilled to announce that we’re becoming part of Google,’ said Songza in a brief statement on its website. ‘We can’t think of a better company to join in our quest to provide the perfect soundtrack for everything you do. No immediate changes to Songza are planned, other than making it faster, smarter, and even more fun to use.’
At only six years of age, the Long Island-based streaming service boasts an active user base of 5.5 million. However, that figure pales in comparison to the firm’s larger competitors Spotify and Pandora, which have 24 million and 77 million active users respectively.
[T]hat figure pales in comparison to the firm’s larger competitors Spotify and Pandora, which have 24 million and 77 million active users
Neither Google nor Songza have disclosed any of the deal’s financial details, but the price tag is some way off Apple’s recent $3bn buyout of Beats Electronics, which was for both the company’s headphones and music streaming business. Where Songza differs, however, is with regards to its music curation service, which offers users the ability to construct a playlist based on any number of variables, including mood, location and season.
“This is a very different acquisition than Apple buying Beats. Even putting the hardware aspect aside,” says Mike Battista, Senior Consulting Analyst at Info-Tech Research Group. “It’s just another piece in the puzzle, but Apple and Google have been collecting those pieces for years, so smaller competitors in the streaming music business may have to diversify or consolidate to compete. These third parties may have a tough time competing with streaming music, playlists, and hardware that all work seamlessly with mobile operating systems.”
Google’s current Play All Access subscription service, which was launched only last year, is priced at $9.99 a month, though the added expertise of Songza will further the company’s mission to penetrate the fastest growing sector in the music business to date.
“Songza has always been about using contextual information to direct listeners to the right music. With content and data from All Access—not to mention the rest of Google’s services—there is a lot more context to draw from,” says Battista. “Google’s recent focus on pushing information to users without even having to search will extend to music. For example, a notification could pop up on a Google Wear smartwatch saying, “looks like you’re late for work and didn’t sleep very well. How about you listen to this playlist of your favourite energetic songs to get you going?” Songza has the playlist curation resources and algorithms to help Google accomplish this.”
