Microsoft to Launch a Music Streaming Service

Ever heard of Spotify? It’s a music service, still in beta that lets you download their client and listen to your favorite music. Microsoft is also coming up with a similar service of their own, most probably at the end of this month. The service will offer users the chance to stream music for free and also download to own, according to Telegraph,

Peter Bale, executive producer of MSN, Microsoft’s news and entertainment portal, told The Telegraph exclusively: “Music is an important area for Microsoft. We are looking at launching a music streaming service imminently.It will be a similar principle to Spotify but we are still examining how the business model will work.”

Spotify users can stream music for free in exchange for listening to around a minute of advertising every half hour but for £9.99 a month, the ads will be turned off. It is thought Microsoft’s offering will be ad-supported too as well as having a paid-for premium service.

Mr Bale added: “We are looking at how other similar businesses have structured their business models and trying to figure out what will work best for both consumer and Mircosoft.”

The service would be operated and owned by Microsoft, while being promoted through MSN and other parts of the Microsoft network.