Streaming music service Deezer has announced its latest telco deal: a partnership with T-Mobile Austria. The mobile operator will bundle a premium Deezer subscription into its Young Star Music and Music XL mobile tariffs. As those names imply, T-Mobile is planning to put some marketing welly behind music as part of the deal. “It has never been so easy and such good-value to access music. By partnering with Deezer, we are sending a clear signal against illegal downloads and piracy,” says CMO Thomas Kicker. Industry analyst Mark Mulligan has provided some good context for the deal on his blog, claiming it’s the latest attempt to target the ‘squeezed middle’ of the digital music market: people who want unlimited streaming without ads, but aren’t prepared to pay £4.99 / £9.99 for it. In separate news, meanwhile, Facebook has announced that Deezer has seen a 300% increase in traffic from Facebook mobile in the last month, and is adding 200,000 new Facebook users a week.
