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Sony's 'Music Unlimited' Service Shutting Down After Failing to Emerge as Viable iTunes Alternative

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Sony announced on Wednesday that it will be shutting down its Music Unlimited on-demand streaming music service ahead of launching Spotify on PlayStation Music. Music Unlimited will shut down in all 19 countries it operated on March 29, 2015, with nearly all of the countries among the 41 regions that Spotify for PlayStation Music will be available upon launch, including the United States, Canada, Mexico and Brazil.

Sony-Music-Unlimited-App.png
Music Unlimited launched in December 2010 on PlayStation Network in several countries worldwide, and the service was later extended to iPhone [Direct Link], Android, PlayStation Vita and other devices and platforms. In February 2011, it was reported that Sony viewed Music Unlimited as a potential iTunes Store alternative and that it was considering pulling music from Apple's platform if its own service became successful.
"If we do [get mass take up] then does Sony Music need to provide content to iTunes?" Mr Ephraim asked. "Currently we do. We have to provide it to iTunes as that's the format right now."

"Publishers are being held to ransom by Apple and they are looking for other delivery systems, and we are waiting to see what the next three to five years will hold."
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The on-demand streaming music landscape has gone through significant change in the past three years, however, and Music Unlimited failed to remain competitive with industry leaders such as Spotify, Rdio, Pandora and Beats Music. Music Unlimited users with active subscriptions will continue to have free access to the service through the March 29 closing date.

Article Link: Sony's 'Music Unlimited' Service Shutting Down After Failing to Emerge as Viable iTunes Alternative
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2015/01/28/sony-music-unlimited-shut-down/
maflynn

maflynn

macrumors Haswell
May 3, 2009
73,496
43,421
Wow, they did a horrible job at promoting it. I didn't even know they had a service.
 
Consultant

Consultant

macrumors G5
Jun 27, 2007
13,314
34
I am usually bearish on music services:

Unlimited music stream usually don't make enough for the artists.
Users don't get to keep anything when the service closes.
 
C

CFreymarc

Suspended
Sep 4, 2009
3,969
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.. and I bet Sony execs still wonder why so many Valley consulting firms turned down working on this portal.
 
U

unplugme71

macrumors 68030
May 20, 2011
2,827
754
Earth
So those eligible for the sony lawsuit that signed up for free music unlimited as their choice...what happens now? Do they get to pick something else or are they given nothing.
 
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HenryDJP

Suspended
Nov 25, 2012
5,084
843
United States
That's really too bad, honestly. I tried out the trial of Music Unlimited on my PS4 and it's actually a very nice user interface and great library of songs. Sony just charged way too much for it. It was $9.99/mo. Wasn't worth paying. That's $120/year just for music streaming.
 
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CFreymarc

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MrCornfed said:
I got my PS4 last November and just this past weekend I was looking for a music streaming app and was stunned at how poor the PS4 is for playing music.
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The story goes is that music streaming service was a total after-tough with not that many resources allocated to the project. The PS4 was totally set up as a game box and not an "entertainment center" as the marketing was trying to image.

MrCornfed said:
So huzzah for added Spotify!
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How often do you attend Renaissance Faire? Let me guess, you have worked the shows. Which guild?
 
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CFreymarc

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Sep 4, 2009
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Mildredop said:
"The Great Die-Off"

Unfortunate song to choose.
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You want to see a die-off in the next few years, Wearable Technology start-ups will die off like a meteor hit the planet surface. Half of the offerings at CES this year were up there with rubber chicken shows.
 
RoastingPig

RoastingPig

macrumors 68000
Jul 23, 2012
1,606
70
SoCal
yeah because imma sign up for a music service that i have to listen to on a ps4 and not my iphone, macbook and ipad.
 
McTaste

McTaste

macrumors 6502
Jan 21, 2014
346
602
Beats Music is a market leader? It has literally hundreds of subscriptions!
 
DeadSeaMac

DeadSeaMac

macrumors member
Sep 18, 2013
94
122
CFreymarc said:
The story goes is that music streaming service was a total after-tough with not that many resources allocated to the project. The PS4 was totally set up as a game box and not an "entertainment center" as the marketing was trying to image.
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And there's the issue for SONY. Try as they might, SONY has simply failed in developing & implementing an integrated ecosystem that works seamlessly across their product line. It's been a hodgepodge, willy nilly after-thought for SONY always one step behind trying to catch the proverbial "lightning in the bottle" ala Apple's ecosystem.
 
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HenryDJP

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Nov 25, 2012
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843
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RoastingPig said:
yeah because imma sign up for a music service that i have to listen to on a ps4 and not my iphone, macbook and ipad.
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No, because just you're arguing for the sake of. Music Unlimited works on your Mac or iPhone as well.

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2IS said:
I'm with you guys. I had never heard of this service until now.
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Then you don't have a PS4 because that's generally the audience they were marketing to.
 
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