There’s a strong case to be argued that, ultimately, premium music streaming services like Spotify et al. will need to partner with ISPs and telcos in order to achieve the “feels like free” proposition that’s required for mass adoption. But this is proving quite difficult, especially so when there are a number of companies offering white label versions of such services that ISPs and telcos can rebrand as their own.
Aspiro is one such company, already operating various white label music and video services for clients such as T-Mobile, Telefónica O2, Telenor, 3, TeliaSonera, BBC, Aftonbladet, mBlox, TVNorge, Entel and VG. And today, the Sweden Nasdaq-listed company, has announced that it’s partnering with NMusic SA to deliver a “game-changing” music streaming service (PC and mobile) for customers of an unnamed Portuguese operator. The agreement “further cements” Aspiro’s position as the premier provider of white labeled music services to operators and ISPs, says the company, which already delivers several similar music services in Norway, Denmark and Sweden — the same Scandinavian stomping ground that Spotify competes fiercely in.
Talking of which, back in February we reported on Aspiro operated service WiMP for Norwegian telco Telenor, which despite the name #fail sounds like a worthy Spotify competitor. The service launched with deals with the four major record companies and a number of smaller independent partners. And just as with Spotify, users can search for and discover new music, create playlists, favourites, and recommendations.
This left us posing a rather obvious question: If a local Scandinavian telco can come up with this, why can’t another telecoms provider? Afterall, they already have the billing relationship.
Spotify may in fact simply be starting to get people used to the idea of streaming music, rather than the company that ultimately benefits, with other players coming up later with the actual services that take off.
And today, thanks again to Aspiro, an operator in Portugal just has.
