Sony on Wednesday announced it is shutting down its streaming music service ‘Music Unlimited’ in favour of a new service in partnership with Spotify.
Sony’s partnership deal with Spotify will see the duo rolling out a new music service dubbed ‘PlayStation Music’. The new music service will be integrated into PlayStation Network to allow users to link their accounts to Spotify for sign-up and subscription.
PlayStation gamers will now be able to access the streaming service across their various devices, check its catalogue of over 30 million songs, create playlists and play music from Spotify in the background of PlayStation gaming sessions.
“Music is a core component of the entertainment offering that consumers expect from Sony,” Andrew House, head of Sony’s Network Entertainment Business, said in a statement.
“This partnership represents the best in music and the best in gaming coming together, which will benefit the vibrant and passionate communities of both Spotify and PlayStation Network.”
“We’re thrilled to make Spotify the foundation of our strategy with PlayStation Music.”
Announcing the deal Spotify CEO and Founder Daniel Ek said “We are incredibly honored to partner with Sony and PlayStation to give gamers around the world an amazing experience wherever they listen to music.”
“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.”
As part of the deal, Sony’s existing Music Unlimited service will be shut down in the 19 countries where it’s currently offered on March 29.
The new music service will launch on PS4 and PS3 along with Xperia phones and tables this spring across 41 markets namely Andorra, Austria, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Malta, Mexico, Monaco, New Zealand, Netherlands, Norway, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Singapore, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Turkey, UK, and USA.
No specific launch date for PlayStation Music has yet been announced.
