Sony's Music Unlimited service finally reaches Japan homeland, offers access to over 10 million tracks
The rest of the world has been sampling Sony's streaming music wares for a while, but the all-you-can-listen subscription service has finally launched today in Japan, priced at 1,480 yen per month. Music Unlimited has now rolled out to both Sony hardware and various mobile OS', in a bid to go toe-to-toe with the likes of Spotify. Users can still 'match' their existing music collection to the cloud service -- if available -- and will be able to stream available music on any compatible device and even cache their playlists for offline playback. Hit up the PR after the break for all the details.
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Sony Entertainment Network's "Music Unlimited" Service Launches in Japan
Music Subscription Service with All-You-Can-Listen Access to Over 10 Million Songs
Tokyo, Japan, July 3, 2012 - Sony Corporation ("Sony") today announced the launch of the "Music Unlimited" cloud-based music subscription service in Japan. Through "Music Unlimited," music lovers can listen to over 10 million songs managed in the cloud, across a variety of compatible Sony devices and more, at home or on the go.
Initially, the "Music Unlimited" catalogue in Japan will offer over 10 million of songs from major labels including, EMI Music Japan Inc., Sony Music Entertainment (Japan) Inc., Universal Music LLC, Warner Music Japan, as well as leading independent labels. Furthermore, the catalogue will continue to expand over time.
Price
"Music Unlimited" July 3, 2012 1,480 yen/30 days (tax included)
30 day free trial for new usersⅱ
Music Unlimited
The "Music Unlimited" cloud-based music subscription service matches users' lifestyles to offer them access to music wherever and wheneverⅲ across a bevy of devices. The service launched in the UK and Ireland in December 2010, and expanded to countries across North America and Europe. With the debut in Japan, "Music Unlimited" is now available in 17 countriesⅳ around the globe.
Accessible across numerous Sony connected devices and more, "Music Unlimited" adapts to users' music preferences as they continue to use the service, so users can discover new music and artists. Furthermore, the service is cloud-based allowing users to enjoy music from their playlists and My Library across all of their compatible devices without the need to transfer music files.
Through "Music Unlimited" users can easily enjoy the music they want to listen to from a plethora of preset music channels categorized by genre, era, and more, as well as "My Channels," customized by their favorite artists. Furthermore, users can easily find select songs, albums, artists and related songs from the enormous catalogue in the cloud.
By studying users' 'like/dislike' song ratings, "Music Unlimited" adapts to users' music preferences to offer the most compatible and enjoyable songs from the cloud. Therefore, the more users use the service, the more opportunities they have to discover new songs and artists.
Furthermore, by scanning and matching their existing music files on their personal computers with the "Music Unlimited" catalog through MusicSync™, users' music and playlists from other media players automatically appear in their "Music Unlimited" My Library for them to enjoy at any time across all compatible devices.
Users can currently enjoy the service across Android™ smartphonesⅴ including Xperia™, Android™ tabletsⅵ including "Sony Tablet" devices, Android™ Walkman, PlayStation®3, PlayStation®Vita, VAIO and other Windows personal computersⅶ, and Macⅷ. Furthermore, the service is scheduled to become compatible on 2010 and later models of network-enabled Bravia® HDTVsⅸ, Sony's Blu-ray Disc® players (BDP-S380/S480), multichannel integrated amplifier (TA-DA5700ES) after mid-July.
"Bringing the cloud music subscription service to Japan, which is one of the largest music markets in the world, is a key step in the expansion of 'Music Unlimited,'" said Tim Schaaff, President of Sony Network Entertainment International.
"EMI Music would like to have its music available to as many music fans as possible in a great number of formats, and is very happy to provide its music content to 'Music Unlimited,' the multi-device subscription/streaming service by which consumers can enjoy listening to music while benefiting from a diverse array of cool functions," said Hitoshi Namekata, Executive Chairman & Representative Director, EMI Music Japan Inc. "We expect the service will bring discoveries of new music as well as encounters with nostalgic tracks, and hope that it will fulfill a valuable service for the music market."
"We are excited to be able to deliver our music through this new 'Music Unlimited' service," said Naoki Kitagawa, CEO, Sony Music Entertainment (Japan)Inc. "Innovative technologies have changed and diversified people's lifestyles as well as the way they enjoy music. We hope that even more people can enjoy our music in novel ways through new offerings like 'Music Unlimited.'"
"'Music Unlimited' heralds a new era for the music industry in Japan," said Kazuhiko Koike, President and CEO, Universal Music LLC. "This service creates opportunities for customers to discover new music wherever they are in the world, and we are delighted to offer listeners access to our great music library."
"I am thrilled about the launch of 'Music Unlimited' here in Japan and also very excited that now we can deliver more of Warner Music's Beautiful and POP repertoires to music fans through a variety of devices," said Kei Ishizaka, Representative Director, Chairman & CEO, Warner Music Japan Inc. "I strongly believe that music subscription service which is rapidly growing in overseas, will bring us another opportunity to expand digital business even more here in Japan."
Key Features of "Music Unlimited"
1. A variety of preset music channels
Users can enjoy 57 music channels categorized by genre, era, Premium channels with various Top 100 channels, as well as mood ("Relax," "Morning," and more) based on SensMe™, Sony's proprietary 12 Tone Analysis technologyⅹ to evaluate music tracks. Furthermore, users can use My Channel to create artist-inspired channels to enjoy music from that artist and other similar artists.
2. Personalization
By studying users' 'like/dislike' song ratings, "Music Unlimited" adapts to users' music preferences to offer the most compatible and enjoyable songs from the cloud. Therefore, the more users use the service, the more opportunities they have to discover new songs and artists.
3. Synchronized music experience across all devices
Users can easily build their My Library and create playlists with their favorite music which can be enjoyed across all compatible devices without the need to transfer music files.
4. Offline playback
In addition to online streaming, users can also listen to their playlists and music channelsⅺ in subways or airplanes where they cannot access the network, through offline playbackⅻ on their PlayStation®Vita, Android™ smartphones including Xperia™, and Android™ Walkman.
5. Music Sync
Furthermore, by scanning and matching their existing music files on their personal computers with the "Music Unlimited" catalog through MusicSync™, users' music and playlists from other media players including iTunes® automatically appear in their "Music Unlimited" My Library for them to enjoy at any time across all compatible devices.
