Samsung Debuts Online 'Music Hub,' Challenges iTunes With 19 Million Tracks

Dan Rys
Billboard.biz

"The company announced that its purchase of web-based media provider mSpot earlier this month formed the groundwork for the Music Hub."

Samsung is debuting an online music store called the Samsung Music Hub, which will be available initially via its new Samsung Galaxy S III in Germany, Italy, the U.K., France and Spain.

The service will allow songs to be streamed through the cloud as well as downloaded onto a device for offline listening, and has over 19 million tracks available for purchase and streaming through a partnership with 7digital's licensing rights and API. The company announced that its purchase of web-based media provider mSpot earlier this month formed the groundwork for the Music Hub.

Samsung is also offering a Music Hub Premium option, which for €9.99/month allows users to upload their music catalog to the cloud -- which offers 100GB of storage space -- and stream the service's entire catalog, as well as listen to artist-based radio stations, similar to the offerings of Spotify or Pandora.

"When you ask yourself, 'what do I want to listen to?' there is now one simple answer, for every mood, every place and everyone," said TJ Kang, SVP of Samsung Electronics' Media Solution Center, in a statement. "With the new Music Hub, we're bringing the joy back to music -- listening, collecting and sharing."

Samsung will be rolling out the service to its other devices soon, but for today's release the Hub is only available on the Galaxy S III. Apple's iTunes Music Store launched in 2003 and currently features over 20 million songs, while Sony also unveiled its Music Unlimited service in January, with a catalog of over 12 million tracks.

May 29th, 2012

Billboard.biz