Deezer

Deezer
Type of business Subsidiary
Available in 180+ countries[1]
Founded August 2007 (2007-08)
Paris, France
Headquarters Paris, Île-de-France, France[2]
Founder(s) Daniel Marhely
Jonathan Benassaya
Key people Hans-Holger Albrecht[1] (CEO)
Laurent Cordonnier (CFO)
Industry Music, podcast, and video
Services Music streaming
Parent Access Industries[3]
(2016–present)
Website www.deezer.com
Alexa rank Decrease 1,228 (March 2018)[4]
Commercial Yes
Registration Required
Current status Active
Native client(s) on Web, Android, iOS, Windows Mobile, BlackBerry OS, MacOS

Deezer is an Internet-based music streaming service. It allows users to listen to music content from record labels including Sony Music, Universal Music Group, and Warner Music Group on various devices online or offline. Created in Paris, France, Deezer currently has 53 million licensed tracks[5] in its library, with over 30,000 radio channels, 14 million monthly active users, and 6 million paid subscribers as of 3 April 2018.[6] The service is available for Web, Android, iOS, Windows Mobile, BlackBerry OS and Windows, MacOS.

History

In 2006, Daniel Marhely developed the first version of Deezer, called Blogmusik, in Paris. Its idea was to give unlimited access to music lovers through streaming technology.

The site in its original incarnation was charged with copyright infringement by French agency SACEM, and after being shut down in April 2007[7] was relaunched as Deezer in August 2007, having reached an agreement with SACEM to pay copyright holders with revenue from advertising on the site[8] and by giving users the ability to download songs streamed on Deezer from iTunes, with Deezer receiving a commission from each purchase.[7]

Launch

At the time of its launch in 2007, Deezer had not yet negotiated agreements with major music labels and therefore offered a limited catalogue.[7] It took more than two years for agreements to be signed with the four largest labels, as well as various smaller ones, but by 2011 the company had rights to about eight million songs.[7] During August 2007, its first month of operations, Deezer saw about 773,000 visitors to its site, with traffic increasing rapidly in the next several years—2.75 million people used the service in May 2008, and there were seven million users by December 2009.[7]

Despite the high traffic, Deezer almost immediately ran into financial problems—during the first half of 2008, the company saw revenue of just 875,000 euros, not enough to pay its licensing fees.[7] In July 2008, the company began running ads itself through advertising agency Deezer Media; in October, Deezer secured $8.4 million in funding from AGF Private Equity and CM-CIC Capital Prive, bringing total investment in the company to $15.8 million.[9] The company introduced mandatory registration in February 2009 to gather more precise data on users, in order to run more targeted ads, and in November 2009 began running audio ads between songs.[7]

On 5 November 2009, Deezer launched a new three-tier service model. While continuing basic free web streaming, the company also introduced two subscription services—users paying €4.99 monthly received higher-quality music without ads, and users paying €9.99 monthly gained access to downloadable applications for computers, as well as Android, BlackBerry, and iOS mobile devices.[10]

In January 2010, the company's CEO and co-founder, Jonathan Benassaya, was replaced as CEO by Axel Dauchez, after fewer than 15,000 of Deezer's 12 million users signed up for its subscription services.[11] In August 2010, mobile operator Orange partnered with Deezer in a deal to include free access to Deezer Premium, the highest tier of Deezer's streaming packages, with some of Orange's telecommunications contracts in France.[12] Almost immediately after the partnership began, the rate of users signing up for Deezer's premium services went from 6,000 a month to 100,000; by January 2011, 500,000 people were subscribing to the service, with the million-subscriber mark reached in the middle of 2011, half a year ahead of schedule.[7] The two companies expanded their partnership in September 2011 to include Orange contract customers in the United Kingdom.[13] Also in September, Deezer added Facebook integration to its service, allowing users to send music to one another via that social media service.[14]

Expansion to more countries

Availability of Deezer in the world as of August 2016.

Deezer was launched in France in 2007. On 7 December 2011, Deezer, at the time available only in Belgium, France and the United Kingdom, announced plans to expand worldwide during the rest of 2011 and continuing into 2012.[15] According to the company, it planned to make its services available to the whole of Europe by the end of the year, to the Americas (excluding the United States) by the end of January 2012, to Africa and Southeast Asia by the end of February, and the rest of the world (excluding Japan) by the end of June.[15]

It took until 15 March 2012 for service to be available across the whole of Europe,[16] while service launched in Australia, Canada, and New Zealand on 25 April.[17] On 8 June, Deezer announced availability in 35 Latin American countries, though not in Brazil, Cuba, or Venezuela.[18] On 15 August, Deezer announced it would be available in Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand within several weeks.[19]

On 8 October 2012, Deezer announced that it had received $130 million in funding from Access Industries, to be used for further international expansion.[9] Two days later, the company announced that it had expanded into 76 new markets, bringing its worldwide total to 160 countries.[20] On 21 December, Deezer announced a new service level offering two hours of free, ad-supported music streaming a month, available to users worldwide, the company's first free music streaming service outside France.[21] CEO Dauchez said that Deezer was also looking for a partner to introduce service in the United States, who was "able to provide us with a significant volume of subscribers" to help offset what he called the "unbelievably high" costs of entering the US market.[21]

As of December 2012, Deezer had about three million users paying for subscriptions, out of a monthly active user base of about seven million, with 20 million songs in its library.[22] By 2016, according to CEO Dauchez, the company aimed to have five percent of the global music market.[22]

In January 2013, Deezer announced its expansion into 22 new countries across Africa, Asia, Brazil, the Middle East, and the United States, bringing its total to 182.[23][24] However, the United States launch has been restricted to a limited number of device promotions.[25] In July 2016, Deezer added U.S. to the supported country list.[26] As of February 2018, Deezer listed on its website 189 countries where the service was available.[27]

After expansion

Following this expansion, Deezer announced in 2013 partnerships with LG Electronics, Samsung Electronics, and Toshiba that saw Deezer apps made available on smart TV platforms,[28] along with a new brand identity developed in association with the illustrator mcbess.[29]

Since then, Deezer has made a number of announcements, including its Developer Reward Scheme, mobile App Studio, and API upgrades,[30] a new, exclusive beta version of its mobile app for Android users,[31] and the new Deezer app for Windows 8.[32]

April 2013 also saw Deezer update its iOS app with a new smart caching feature, allowing the app to identify and remember a user's most played tracks, even in areas of poor network coverage.[33]

In June 2014, Deezer announced a new partnership with Samsung giving Samsung Galaxy S5 users in Europe a free, six months Deezer Premium+ subscription. Later on, Samsung and Deezer extended their partnership by offering a six-month, free of charge subscription to Deezer Premium+ for Samsung's Multiroom Wireless Audio Products, including its M5 and M7 line of Multiroom wireless audio speakers.

In June 2014, Deezer and Google announced that the Google Chromecast would be supporting Deezer's Android and iPhone apps to allow users to stream music from their phone to their televisions through the Chromecast. Chromecast support became available to Deezer Premium+ users from 25 June 2014 onwards in Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.

In September 2014, Deezer announced Deezer Elite, a new exclusive service made for and in partnership with Sonos. Deezer Elite provides CD quality audio to U.S. users of Sonos Hi-Fi Systems. The service is available worldwide to Sonos users of Deezer only.[34] Deezer Elite "High-Resolution Audio" is lossless CD quality (16bit/44.1 kHz) and not "Hi-Res" or high-resolution audio. Sonos does not support Hi-Res (24/96, 24/192 or similar) streaming.

Deezer HiFi offers 36 million tracks of 16-Bit/44.1 kHz of FLAC quality music for a $19.95 monthly subscription in the United States. It is "Only available on selected soundsystems and the Desktop App,” and offers downloads to phones at 320 kbit/s.[35]

In October 2014, Deezer rolled out a new user interface for its website player. This new change in design was widely welcomed by numerous users.[36]

In October 2014, Deezer announced that Bose SoundTouch and SoundLink products would now be supported for Deezer Premium+ service. This partnership will first be rolled out in the United States and then will be available to worldwide users.[37]

In October 2014, Deezer announced that Stitcher Radio would be merging into Deezer. By 2015, Deezer users would be able to use Stitcher Radio features within Deezer.[38]

In December 2014, Deezer and Pepsi announced a partnership to set up the Midem Artist Accelerator to support managers and labels as they grow the profiles of their artists.[39][40] In June 2016, it sold Stitcher to E.W. Scripps Company for $4.5 million[41]

Last.fm integration

In January 2012, Last.fm announced that Deezer would integrate with Last.fm, allowing users to send songs from Deezer to their Last.fm account and "scrobble" them.[42]

Accounts and subscriptions

As of October 2017 there are three Deezer account types.[43] All subscriptions feature unlimited track playing and support for mobile devices. The Discovery tier only has access to the Playlist/Artist Mix and Flow features on mobile devices.

Quality

Some titles are also available in FLAC for pay.[44]

Subscription Price Ads Skipping and Scrubbing Offline Mode TV, HiFi, and Car Support Google Chromecast Support Accounts Audio Quality (kbit/s)
Deezer Free Free Ad-Supported Six Skips per Hour, No Scrubbing Unavailable Available (Restricted) Available (Restricted) 1 MP3 Quality (128 kbit/s)
Deezer Premium $9.99/month, €9.99/month; 30-day free trial None Unlimited Skips and Scrubbing Available Available Available 1 MP3 Quality (320 kbit/s)
Deezer Family $14.99/month, €14.99/month None Unlimited Skips and Scrubbing Available Available Available 6 MP3 Quality (320 kbit/s)

Available devices

Deezer is available via:

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "Deezer press page show company stats". Retrieved 2015-12-06.
  2. ↑ "Warner Music's Parent Company Now In Control of Deezer Following French Approval". Billboard. 9 August 2016. Archived from the original on 12 February 2018. Retrieved 12 February 2018.
  3. ↑ "Deezer.com Site Info". Alexa Internet. March 14, 2018. Retrieved March 14, 2018.
  4. ↑ "About us". Deezer.
  5. ↑ Summers, Nick. 29 Jan 2017TheNextWeb "Deezer unveils a Mac app and new music discovery features after reaching 5m paid subscribers"
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "Deezer: Profitability Down the Line?". INA Global. 19 August 2011. Archived from the original on 3 April 2015. Retrieved 21 December 2012.
  7. ↑ "Exclusive: BlogMusik To Go Legit; Launches Free & Legal Music On Demand". TechCrunch. 21 August 2007. Archived from the original on 21 December 2012. Retrieved 21 December 2012.
  8. 1 2 "Deezer's Expansion Plans Get a Boost". Wall Street Journal. 8 October 2012. Retrieved 21 December 2012.
  9. ↑ "Digital music startup Deezer debuts desktop client, premium offering". TechCrunch. 5 November 2009. Archived from the original on 21 December 2012. Retrieved 21 December 2012.
  10. ↑ "Post bloodletting, Deezer appoints a new CEO". TechCrunch. 28 January 2010. Archived from the original on 21 December 2012. Retrieved 21 December 2012.
  11. ↑ "Orange brings Deezer Premium to its customers". Screen Digest. 6 August 2010. Archived from the original on 21 December 2012. Retrieved 21 December 2012.
  12. ↑ "Deezer takes on Spotify with Orange deal". Financial Times. 7 September 2011. Archived from the original on 21 December 2012. Retrieved 21 December 2012.
  13. ↑ "Deezer enters realm of Facebook". Telecompaper. 23 September 2011. Archived from the original on 21 December 2012. Retrieved 21 December 2012.
  14. 1 2 "Deezer plans to launch music service in 200 countries by June 2012 (but not in the US and Japan)". TechCrunch. 7 December 2011. Retrieved 21 December 2012.
  15. ↑ "Deezer now covers all European countries from Iceland to Russia (46 countries)". The Next Web. 15 March 2012. Retrieved 21 December 2012.
  16. ↑ "Spotify rival Deezer continues its worldwide expansion with launch in Canada, Australia and New Zealand". The Next Web. 25 April 2012. Retrieved 21 December 2012.
  17. ↑ "Music streaming service Deezer goes live in 35 Latin American territories today". The Next Web. 7 June 2012. Retrieved 21 December 2012.
  18. ↑ "European Music Streaming Service Deezer Heads to Asia; Partners With Telco dTac In Thailand". TechCrunch. 15 August 2012. Retrieved 21 December 2012.
  19. ↑ "Deezer's streaming music service now available in 160 countries, US market 'not ready'". The Verge. 10 October 2012. Retrieved 21 December 2012.
  20. 1 2 "Spotify Rival Deezer Eyes U.S". Wall Street Journal. 21 December 2012. Retrieved 21 December 2012.
  21. 1 2 "Deezer's CEO Axel Dauchez On Cracking Into The U.S. And Why It's Not Just Another Spotify". TechCrunch. 9 October 2012. Retrieved 21 December 2012.
  22. ↑ "Deezer Takes On Spotify With Expansions In Middle East, Africa, Brazil And Asia". TechCrunch. 28 January 2013.
  23. ↑ Deezer compte se lancer aux Etats-Unis en 2014, Challenges, 20 November 2013
  24. ↑ Deezer, entering US www.cnet.com. Retrieved on 2016-01-23.
  25. ↑ "Deezer Music Preview for Windows 10 PC and Mobile is now available for U.S. users". Retrieved 3 July 2016.
  26. ↑ Deezer for developers. Developers.deezer.com. Retrieved on 2018-02-28.
  27. ↑ "Deezer is bringing its streaming music service to smart TVs, via deals with Samsung, LG and Toshiba". Retrieved 26 February 2013.
  28. ↑ "McBess draws for Deezer". Retrieved 26 February 2013.
  29. ↑ "Music streaming service Deezer adds third-party app discovery to smartphones, updates its API". The Next Web. Retrieved 13 March 2013.
  30. ↑ "Deezer for Android gets redesign, predictive search function in new beta version". Engadget. Retrieved 3 April 2013.
  31. ↑ "Deezer launches Windows 8 app for its on-demand music streaming service ahead of Spotify and Rdio". The Next Web. Retrieved 17 April 2013.
  32. ↑ "Deezer adds 'smart caching' to its iOS app". Music Ally. Retrieved 26 April 2013.
  33. ↑ "Exceptional audio quality with Deezer Elite and Sonos". deezer.com.
  34. ↑ "Deezer HiFi". deezer.com.
  35. ↑ "Our smart new look". deezer.com.
  36. ↑ "U.S. music fans can now enjoy Deezer Premium+ on Bose products". deezer.com.
  37. ↑ "Stitcher joins Deezer! « Stitcher Blog". stitcher.com.
  38. ↑ Green, Tim (9 January 2015). "Deezer: bring on the competition, there are 3.47bn more streaming music consumers to go round". Hot Topics. Retrieved 14 January 2015.
  39. ↑ "Midem, Pepsi, and Deezer team up for 'artist accelerator'". musically. 20 December 2014. Retrieved 14 January 2015.
  40. ↑ Roettgers, Janko (6 June 2016). "Scripps Buys Podcast Service Stitcher from Deezer".
  41. ↑ "Last.fm – the Blog · Scrobble with Deezer".
  42. ↑ "Subscription Plans". Deezer.com. Retrieved 10 October 2017.
  43. ↑ "Deezer HiFi - Unlimited Music Streaming in High Fidelity". Deezer. Retrieved 10 September 2018.
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