TORONTO – Canada will be one of Deezer’s highest priority markets when the music streaming service launches here by the end of January 2012, says the Paris-based company’s chief operating officer Simon Balderyrou.
Deezer, which charges a monthly fee for unlimited access to a collection of 13 million songs through the web or a mobile app, says it’s planning to launch in over 200 countries through next year with the notable exception of two major markets: the United States and Japan.
Balderyrou says those digital-music markets are too well established and so Deezer is looking for other countries where there’s a better opportunity for growth, including Canada.
“Our vision is we want to appear as the first global company (that excels in) monetization of music, which so far has been concentrated in six countries, and Canada is one of the six,” he says.
“Outside of France and the U.K., our first two markets, we will really focus on Germany and Canada, which are the biggest contributors to the music industry right now. We really think the growth opportunity is much bigger in Canada or Germany than the States where there is already (a lot of) competition.”
In Canada, Deezer will primarily match up against Rdio and Slacker Radio. Rdio offers access to a catalogue of 12 million tracks through the web for $4.99 a month, while access to mobile apps costs $9.99 a month. Slacker Radio’s $3.99 plan for the web and mobile is more of an ad-free radio experience, without the ability to play specific songs or albums on demand. There’s also a free version of that service with fewer features. For $9.99, subscribers can pick and choose what to listen to.
Balderyrou won’t release Deezer’s Canadian pricing yet but says “we will adapt to the competition, of course.”
He admits it’ll be a challenge to differentiate Deezer from the similar products already established here. Deezer hopes to out do the competition with better recommendations to discover new music and a user experience that feels local and relevant to Canadians.
“We will have people deciding which music we should push in each country,” Balderyrou says.
“I think we’ve only invented five per cent of the possibilities (when it comes to) recommendation tools so we’ve got algorithmic recommendations and we’ve got human beings, real experts pushing some localized material to make people rediscover music.”
A potential problem for the various music streaming services is a recent trend that’s seen some highly anticipated albums being withheld from those sites, including Coldplay’s “Mylo Xyloto” and the Black Keys’ “El Camino.”
Balderyrou believes it’s just a short-term problem. If enough music fans around the world get hooked on the concept and start committing to spending $5 or $10 every month, the music industry will see a huge boost in revenues, he suggests.
“In France, the average amount spent a few years ago on music was (the equivalent of) two CDs per household, per year. Only a small percentage of people were actually buying music. But if you have a service that’s far (more cost effective) than one CD we bet people are ready to pay for it,” Balderyrou says.
“Up to now we don’t have many artists that have decided not to appear on Deezer because they almost all understand we’re bringing some value to the industry and to them. We’re confident in the coming years every artist will be (online).”
Balderyrou says Deezer will offer a free trial when it launches in Canada, sometime before Jan. 31.
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