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Deezer buys Muve Music
By Andy Malt | Published on Friday 9 January 2015
Deezer yesterday confirmed it had purchased Muve Music from AT&T, and for “under $100 million” according to TechCrunch. What a bargain!
US-based Muve Music was brought under AT&T’s ownership in 2013 when it purchased Leap Wireless, which in turn owned US mobile service Cricket Wireless, which in turn operated the streaming music set-up. Yeah, keep up with all that. For Deezer, a late entrant to the US streaming market despite its world domination strategy, the new deal delivers a sizable userbase over night (assuming they all stay), and its service will be promoted by Cricket to its mobile customers moving forward under the arrangement.
Speaking about the purchase to Music Ally, Deezer’s North American CEO Tyler Goldman said: “Muve has been one of the bright spots in the music subscription category in terms of getting very significant penetration, like what Spotify did in the Nordics and Deezer did in France. But Muve has been a little bit under the radar, especially outside the US. For a long time it was the largest subscription service in the US, now it’s probably the second largest. So over the course of this year, that means Deezer will become one of the largest players in the US”.
Muve Music will cease to exist as a standalone service next month, but Deezer hopes to transfer users over to its own system with minimum hassle by ensuring their data and playlists move with them. Though Muve users will notice one big difference. Whereas they previously got their music streams bundled in with their Cricket Wireless account, Deezer will be an extra $6 a month after a 45 day free trial.
And while that is cheaper than the going rate for on-demand streaming (ie $10 a month), it remains to be seen if the Muvers sign up, especially given the Cricket Wireless service arguably appealed to lower spending music fans than those who opted for the likes of Spotify and Beats Music. Though for the time being at least, Deezer + Muve does make the former “one of the largest” on-demand streamers Stateside, as Goldman claimed.
