Universal Music has made a habit of partnering to test new digital music services around the world, from the days of Orange’s Monkey in the UK, through Kleek in South Africa to last week’s announcement of Bradesco Music in Brazil. It’s a partnership with financial services firm Bradesco to launch a streaming music and videos service with a catalogue of more than 500k songs.
Available on desktop and mobile devices, Bradesco Music will cost R$4.90 a month – around $1.57 – and will be accompanied by a branded credit card, with access to the service included for anyone who signs up for that. The launch comes shortly after UMG announced a partnership with mobile firm Mondia Media for a white-label subscription-based app (Bulletin, 17-Mar-15) as the label group explores new mobile-first models in emerging markets. It will be interesting to see if Bradesco Music carves out a new niche for itself, or competes with the likes of Spotify, Google Play and Deezer – at R$14.90 a month, Spotify is three times as expensive as Bradesco Music.
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