Sky# Songs fails to hit right note
By Julian Clover
: December 7,
BSkyB# is to close its Sky Songs music streaming service a little over a year after its launch. Existing customers, who paid £4.99 (€5.89)# per month, will be able to use the service through until February. In a statement Sky said that although it believed it had created an innovative and good value digital music service, it had not been able to reach a large enough customer base for it to continue.
“We’ve taken the difficult decision to close Sky Songs#. Although we are extremely proud of the service we built and the experience it offers, we just didn’t see the consumer demand we’d hoped for. As Sky Songs# demonstrates, we’re a business that takes risks and innovates, but at the same time, we’re pragmatic and act decisively when a new venture isn’t working out.”
Customers will be entitled to keep any songs they have downloaded as part of their subscription or have purchased individually.
Launched in October 2009#, Sky had received the backing of four major music labels, EMI#, Sony, Universal# and Warner#, who had agreed for both their new releases and back catalogue to be featured.
Universal, which committed to the Sky service as long ago as July 2008, had also signed a similar deal with Virgin Media. However, despite music playing a significant role in the cableco’s on demand and planned TiVo# proposition, the music streaming service has failed to appear#.
The past 12 months# have also seen the departure of the Music Choice# premium audio service from the Sky platform.
The two parties had been unable to reach a new commercial agreement#.
By Julian Clover
: December 7,
BSkyB# is to close its Sky Songs music streaming service a little over a year after its launch. Existing customers, who paid £4.99 (€5.89)# per month, will be able to use the service through until February. In a statement Sky said that although it believed it had created an innovative and good value digital music service, it had not been able to reach a large enough customer base for it to continue.
“We’ve taken the difficult decision to close Sky Songs#. Although we are extremely proud of the service we built and the experience it offers, we just didn’t see the consumer demand we’d hoped for. As Sky Songs# demonstrates, we’re a business that takes risks and innovates, but at the same time, we’re pragmatic and act decisively when a new venture isn’t working out.”
Customers will be entitled to keep any songs they have downloaded as part of their subscription or have purchased individually.
Launched in October 2009#, Sky had received the backing of four major music labels, EMI#, Sony, Universal# and Warner#, who had agreed for both their new releases and back catalogue to be featured.
Universal, which committed to the Sky service as long ago as July 2008, had also signed a similar deal with Virgin Media. However, despite music playing a significant role in the cableco’s on demand and planned TiVo# proposition, the music streaming service has failed to appear#.
The past 12 months# have also seen the departure of the Music Choice# premium audio service from the Sky platform.
The two parties had been unable to reach a new commercial agreement#.