Play That Funky Music Loud!

Play that funky music loud!

What is a smartphone without music? Music fuels engagement, drives hardware adoption and serves as a differentiator. This is why Telenor has partnered with Deezer. DiGi recently became the fifth business unit to launch the global music streaming service.

Last month, both DiGi and Telenor Montenegro did the same as dtac and our other business units in CEE; they partnered with Deezer. The company has a strong presence in CEE and Asia and is, along with iTunes and Spotify, one of the largest international music services with 26 million users across 182 countries.

Alternative to pirated music

Together with Deezer, Telenor has been a first mover launching music streaming in our regions in Asia as a legal alternative to pirated music. “The business units have done a great job working with artists and running events to create engagement around the music service. After only a few months in operation, more than 250.000 subscriptions with music have been sold,” Gunnar Sellæg, Senior Vice President Commercial Development, Telenor Digital Services.

Local music

One important task has been to help establish an attractive local music repertoire. Local music dominates in most markets. In Sweden 80 per cent of the top 10 albums is domestic and in India 90 per cent of the popular music is regional.

Music makes happy customers

“Today, the music streaming service is usually bundled with the access. We believe music build customer relationship, create loyalty and may help fight price erosion. Just like Twitter and YouTube is building dedicated services to increase customer loyalty (YouTube Vevo and music.twitter.com) have a positive branding effect using music,” said Hans Jevanord, Director & Group Head of music streaming services. Today, when our customers want to relax, or want to share an experience with their friends they tend to turn to their mobile and music. Music and mobile goes hand-in-hand. Music is among the first premium content services to be bundled with our access services. Music drives demand for fast broadband and the enormous popularity of devices and headphones. In Norway Telenor and djuice just recently launched a music offering with Wimp. More facts:

Global music sales up 3 per cent in 2012 – for the first time in 13 years Music fuels engagement 9 of the 10 most liked people on FB are artists 7 of the 10 most followed people on twitter are artists Subscription services are the fastest-growth area in digital music. Sub base gained 44 per cent in 2013 and revenues rose 59 per cent in the first half of the year (IFPI report 2013).

Deezer facts

Telenor Group is one of the world's major mobile operators. We keep our customers connected in our markets across Scandinavia and Asia. Our more than 30,000 employees are committed to responsible business conduct and being our customers' favourite partner in digital life. Connecting the world has been Telenor's domain for more than 160 years, and we are driven by a singular vision: to empower societies. Dezeer’s aim is to help people enjoy music unconstrained by any barriers of the past, providing access to a catalogue of 20 million tracks, instantly available on smartphones, tablets and PCs. Deezer first established in France in 2006, same year as Spotify and four years before Wimp. It allows users to listen to music on various devices online or offline. Their expansion has been faster than any other digital music service. Telenor Digital Services did an extensive comparison and in 2012 concluded on Deezer for CEE and Asia. Today you can reach the service directly through web, without downloading a client. This makes it convenient for many users streaming using the service on PC’s they borrow. But, the real growth comes on mobile. Deezer reports that 60 per cent of its new subscriptions are generated using mobile phones. See video interview with Deezer CEO, Axel Dauches from this year's Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. Read more about Deezer on their website