Everyone questioned the effectiveness of
Music Unlimited has been essentially the only official way to listen to custom tunes as you played games on PlayStation, but the selection was obviously somewhat limited, even with Sony a big player in the music scene. Or at the very least, limited compared to a service like Spotify. Right now, Music Unlimited has access to 22 million songs, and by last count, Spotify has over 30 million, adding at least 20,000 new ones a day.
Once upon a time back when Music Unlimited debuted in 2010, Sony had high hopes for the service, saying that they’d even consider pulling music down from iTunes if it turned out to be a success.
"Publishers are being held to ransom by
Well, here it is, three to five years later, and Sony’s plans for Music Unlimited have not worked out. Fortunately, it’s lead to this rather fantastic Spotify deal which could earn the PS4 a new point in its favor in its never ending quest of one-upmanship with
The new collaboration between Spotify and Sony is simply called “PlayStation Music,” and will debut in 41 countries after killing Music Unlimited in 19 countries March 29th. It will be available on PS4, PS4 and Xperia devices, but Sony didn’t mention the Vita at all, strangely.
Users will link their PlayStation accounts to Spotify in order to be able to use either the service’s free or premium programs to play music in the background as they game.
Spotify has been heralded as both a savior and destroyer of the music industry over the past few years, depending on who you ask. The service has come under fire for paying very, very low royalties to artists based on playback, yet it’s simultaneously been credited with making a strong dent in music piracy, given how easy it is to legally access songs for free. Most recently, Spotify was in headlines when Taylor Swift announced she was removing all of her music from the service. That has not sparked a mass exodus of other artists however, as few are in as crushing a position as Swift when it comes to traditional album/track sales.
Spotify seems like it will be a solid weapon in Sony’s PlayStation arsenal going forward. I’m not sure if the partnership deserves the “game-changer” label it’s been given by some in the tech press, but it’s certainly a nice feature they can tout that Microsoft can’t. Though I would argue headlines about Windows 10 and HoloLens might trump this level of news, as of late. Still, what magical projects Microsoft has in store for the Xbox One will likely come to pass a long ways down the line, while this Spotify deal is going forward this spring for Sony. There is no bigger game in town in terms of music streaming, so given that this very much appears to be an exclusive arrangement (I mean, they’re calling it PlayStation Music), Microsoft could have trouble coming up with an answer.
Looking for Spotify on PlayStation in March, and try it out here for yourself if you’re one of the six people on earth who hasn't done so yet.
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