Orange, Universal and Channel 4 launch music service

Valerie | 30 Jul 2009, 15:17


(Pocket-Lint.com)

Orange has announced it is teaming up with Universal Music and Channel 4 to offer a music streaming service which it hopes will help combat piracy.

Dubbed ‘Monkey’ and targeted at the youth market, the new service will give pre-pay customers unlimited access to tracks from Universal Music’s extensive catalogue and let them play them on pay-as-you-go mobile phones for the first time.

According to the group beyond the venture, the service fills a gap in the market, where young people want access to music but don’t want to pay for it.

Orange UK’s head of Pay As You Go, Pippa Dunn, said anyone could join the new tariff but it was designed to lure 16 to 24-year-olds away from illegal online file-sharing:

“We wanted to find a legal way for them to get free music but ensure that the artists get paid for their work.”

Mark Little, principal analyst at research firm Ovum, thinks the move is a budget version of the deal Spotify is hoping to sign with Apple and Google:

“Spotify is still waiting to sign with Apple’s and Google’s high-end smart phones that targets a slightly older, wealthier consumer. Orange is looking to pop free music into the pockets of the most cash-strapped youth market with the objective of growing pay-as-you-go.“