Spotify partnered with Sony Network Entertainment to launch a PlayStation Music service. This partnership will allow PlayStation Network’s sixty-four million users to integrate their Spotify accounts with their game consoles. The service will initially allow users to import their Spotify setting to PlayStations 3 and 4, and they can also import Xperia smartphones and tablets. Sony president, Andrew House, spoke about the partnership in a statement. “This partnership represents the best in music and the best in gaming.” He continued, “We’re thrilled to name Spotify the foundation of our strategy with PlayStation Music.”
Spotify’s music catalog of thirty million songs and 1.5 billion playlists will also be available for streaming while users are playing games. Founder and CEO of Spotify, Daniel Ek, released a statement in regards to the new partnership, “We are incredibly honored to partner with Sony and PlayStation to give gamers around the world an amazing experience wherever they listen to music.” Ek added, “As a gamer and PlayStation 4 user myself, I’m super excited to be able to soundtrack my FIFA 15 Arsenal matches later this spring.” Sony Music Unlimited is available in nineteen markets, and the service will close in all of those countries on March 29th. Most of these countries will be among the forty-one markets where Spotify on PlayStation Music will be launched. As a consolation, Sony Music Unlimited subscribers will gain free access to PlayStation Music for a month. They will also be given the opportunity to try a Spotify Premium free trial from February 28th through March 29th.
Spotify was founded in 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. Spotify recently announced it has over sixty million active users worldwide, and fifteen million paid subscribers. The commercial music streaming service continues to increase its paid subscribers throughout the years. In 2010, the company had 2.5 million paid subscribers, and it increased to five million premium accounts in 2012. Last year, Spotify reported it had ten million paid subscribers. The increase in premium accounts can be attributed to Spotify’s ability to convert free users to premium members. Spotify’s premium accounts cost users $12.99 a month, and American college students can receive the service at a discounted rate of $4.99 a month.