LONDON (Hypebot) – Psonar is a UK music startup that will let users stream songs they don't own for a penny. There's no advertising or monthly subscription required.
The company bills users directly on their phone bill, as well as, though PayPal and credit cards. This Pay Per Play streaming service is being built on top of their current locker system.
Users can also give tracks to friends – almost like a prepaid phone card, but song plays instead – and post playlists to Twitter and Facebook.
Psonar will work on desktop computers, smartphones, and mobile devices too.
In the second quarter of this year, the company plans to launch the service in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Ireland and Scandinavia.
Starting out, Psonar will only contain music from The Orchard – no majors.
CEO Martin Rigby says, "Psonar aims to answer the digital music dilemma where users are forced to choose between expensive fixed cost online streaming services or pay to own tracks which limits the amount of music consumed and encourages copying and side-loading."
In other words, Rigby thinks that there's a cushy place – and price-point – to occupy right in between iTunes and MOG.
