Samsung has started offering a free radio-streaming service in the United States called Milk Music as part of its effort to lure and keep consumers for its Galaxy smartphones and strengthen its competition against rivals, particularly Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL).
A fresh approach
The South Korean electronics manufacturer obtained exclusive license to stream the music of various artists such as Jay-Z and will combine with the content licensed from Slacker Radio, which has a catalog of 13 million songs.
Gregory Lee, president of Samsung Telecommunications America, said Milk Music is a fresh approach to the crowded music streaming industry. He said, “We’re offering consumers amazing, rich music experiences built around what matters most to them and their lifestyle.”
Samsung’s unique feature
Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. (LON:BC94) (KRX:005930) integrated the eight-second caching feature to differentiate Milk Music from other radio streaming service available in the market. The eight-second caching feature will automatically play a song as users scroll on the list of songs. According to the company, the feature provides a tactile feedback while users browse music genres of radio stations. It will also allow users to skip six songs an hour per station.
Ben Bajarin, an analyst at Creative Strategies commented, “It’s a good step in differentiating their products. This is the first test of how good Samsung’s software chops are; the app is pretty solid with some cool stuff in there.”
Ad-free attracts broad base of listeners
According to Chris Martinez, director of services planning at Samsung Electronics America, Milk Music will attract a broad base of radio streaming listeners (as much as 80 million) because it does not require users to register and log in to their account. He also emphasized that Milk Music is free from advertisements.
Martinez said, “Other services have too many ads, too many interruptions. Milk Music is instant, intuitive and an entertaining way to dial into signature music and it’s ad-free.”
Milk Music will compete against the radio streaming services of Pandora Media Inc (NYSE:P), Spotify, iTunes Radio from Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) and others.
According to the executives of the South Korean electronics manufacturer, Milk Music was developed by its subsidiary, Samsung Media Solutions Center America over the past six months. Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. (LON:BC94) (KRX:005930) established the business unit four years ago in Silicon Valley. Its primary task is to develop content and services exclusively for its Samsung devices.
