Word came yesterday that Spotify had to delay its promised before the end of the year U.S. launch. Behind the delay is Spotify's inability of license music at a price that they can afford given their freemium (free basic and paid premium) model. Just as the labels have discovered that Spotify and music streaming appears to be the biggest deterrent ever to illegal downloading, they appear determined to extract as much revenue as possible.
Suddenly MOG's All Access service, which had been declared dead before arrival because they are charging $5 a month, looks viable ...even promising. MOG's All Access unlimited music streaming service is scheduled to launch at the end of this month in the U.S.
The big hurdle for MOG is no longer, “Can it compete with Spotify?"; but rather, “Does it deliver a strong user experience?". Spotify is instantly easy to use and feels a bit like iTunes; and a teaser video released yesterday by MOG looks very promising. Search, creating playlists, and sharing all appear fast and simple. Now MOG's biggest worry is how quickly Kazaa and Skype founders new project Rdio leaves private beta.
