Streaming Price War Breaks Out As Google Offers 4 Free Months Of Play

November 28

	A four month free trial subscription – this is the offer from Google Play Music for the 'Cyber Week', which began last Friday (November 24). The trial is available in the US and UK, and when it ends, the subscribers will be asked to pay $/£ 9.99 per month for their unlimited access to the service. For the whole year, including these 4 free months, the cost per month will average just $6.66. A day before (November 23), Spotify reintroduced an offer which charges new customers just $/£/€ 0.99 for three months of Premium streaming access. The promotion is available in the US, UK, Germany, Australia and beyond until January 1 – but only to those who’ve not previously subscribed. Earlier this year, Spotify attracted more than 2m new subscribers with similar offer. If a new subscriber took Spotify’s $0.99-for-three-months deal and then remained a paying customer across 12 months his average payment per month will be $7.58. Amazon has introduced its Music Unlimited streaming on-demand service to the US last month, and then the UK/Germany/Austria. It offers existing Amazon Prime members the chance to sign up for just $/£/€7.99 per month. They can also pay a one-off annual subscription fee of $79 – which equals to a monthly cost of $6.58. Apple Music continues to offer new subscribers three months of free music – before asking them to pay $/£/€ 9.99 each month via their iTunes account. Across 12 months, including the three months free, the subscribers will pay $7.49 per month on average. It is clear, that the price war amongst the major streaming services is started. We will see who will be the winner. Source: http://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/