Social music network MOG has signed deals with all four major labels and several indie aggregators to launch an unlimited on-demand streaming service that will cost $5 per month starting November 26, 2009. Originally the plan was to offer this as a free, ad-supported service but MOG argumented that the high cost of licensing on-demand music for the United States makes that impossible.
The argument also undermines the business model of Spotify which exists as a free ad driven service and as a paid subscription. The company wants to launch the same model in the US now, but critics argue that with so many labels refusing to license any free, ad-supported music service, the future for Spotify might not be that bright. It’s also the reason why Spotify’s Daniel Ek wants to get read of the fee per play.
Back to MOG though. MOG’s All Access subscription is currently available as a closed beta for streaming and mobile access to a total catalogue of 5 million and more songs. Interesting to know, the company’s licenses will also allow all 700 of its official bloggers to post songs from the entire catalog for anyone to listen to even if they’re not paying for the premium account. That incentive should draw more traffic to MOG’s blogs.
MOG currently has 8.5 million unique visitors per month, and plans to offer a free trial of the service that doesn’t require users to enter credit card information beforehand when MOG All Access becomes available to the public on November 26.
