TOKYO (CelebrityAccess) — A new music streaming service is hoping to shake up the Japanese music world, challenging the dominance of the compact disc in the market.
This week, Japanese mobile messaging service Line announced plans to launch a streaming music service that offers unlimited access to more than 1.5 million songs for 1,000 yen, or roughly US$8 a month. Line also plans a to offer a reduced price option, with 20 hours of music a month for 500 yen.
Like Apple, Line plans to start off with two months of free service before launching their fee-based plans and plans to boost their music offerings by next year.
Line's streaming announcement comes a week ahead of Apple's expected launch of their own Japanese streaming music service but it remains to be seen how much traction either service will be able to generate with consumers. Other music companies, including Sony, have shuttered their own digital music services due to slow adoption rates.
While digitally distributed music has eclipsed CD sales in the U.S. and Europe, Japanese consumers have clung tenaciously to the CD, with the aid of a music industry that is heavily committed to physical delivery. The Japanese music market is the second largest in the world, worth approximately $2.6 billion in 2014 according to IFPI. – Staff Writers
