At 12.01 tonight, Thursday Morning officially, Telstra’s partnership with streaming music provider MOG goes live in Australia. With unmetered data for Telstra customers and pricing to match existing players in the market it’s going to get a good kick start over the coming days.
While Spotify’s launch was long anticipated because of the brand value Spotify has in the streaming space, Telstra’s announcement a few weeks ago of their partnership with US giant MOG was a pre-emptive strike to put doubt in the minds of some over which service to subscribe to.
EFTM can reveal ahead of the launch that Telstra’s MOG pricing will be $6.99 for the desktop/web access, while the premium/mobile access on Android and iOS devices will be $11.99. Both in line with Spotify’s pricing.
While Spotify offers the free service with ad support, Telstra’s key point of difference is their unmetered data access for Telstra mobile customers. While the service is available to anyone on any carrier, Telstra customers are the only one’s in the country with access to free data while streaming music from these new services.
It’s a compelling point of difference for Telstra and combined with their brand power and likely a large marketing campaign, expect them to take a lions share of the market very quickly.
EFTM has been trialling the MOG service, and we can report that the catalogue of music is extensive, and most certainly on par with or better than Spotify and Rdio – Telstra are claiming around 16 million tracks.
The main point of difference for MOG as a service (aside from Telstra’s free data option) is the MOG radio service.
While Spotify has its apps and social recommendation, and Rdio does it’s best to suggest tracks, MOG has very nifty little slider at the bottom of the app which allows you to ‘stray’ from the artist you are listening to, to experience something new. Keep the slider to the left and you’ll get a ‘radio station’ of songs from just that artist. All the way to the right and you’ll get similar artists but no more from that particular artist. And every level in between.
Our tests of this service were frankly very impressive. My own tests showed some real life examples of suggestions, such as U2 and the Fray when listening to Coldplay, or Elton John when listening to Stevie Wonder. Not having a wide personal taste in music, I can honestly say I found the service suggesting artists I liked when I was tuned into songs I loved.
This is a great feature, we’re sure you’ll love it.
MOG also has an editorial team (based in the US) which offers up tracks and albums for you to listen to, to add that human touch.
It’s worth a look – and the price is certainly competitive.
MOG from BPM (Big Pond Music) is available Thursday on Android, iPhone and online.
