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Deezer moves to free ad-supported streaming to take on Spotify and Rdio

Deezer moves to free ad-supported streaming to take on Spotify and Rdio

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Deezer
Deezer

Deezer is launching a free ad-supported music streaming service to bring it up to speed with its rivals. Users will be able to listen to an unlimited amount of music as part of a one-year trial. After that, listeners will be restricted to two hours worth of music per month unless they move to a paid subscription. Just like Spotify and Rdio, Deezer will also begin offering a 30-day trial for its Premium+ service, which removes adverts and lets users stream music to their mobile devices.

This isn’t the first time that Deezer has offered a free option, though. Users have been able to listen to artist-based radio stations for free similar to Last.fm or Pandora via the company’s Discovery mode for some time. And not surprisingly, the company sees the adjustment of its free service as a stepping stone to monetization: "Our aim here is to encourage music fans to try us, driving ad-supported service listeners to switch to paid subscription over time." The new free option will be available in 150 countries starting from today, but there's still no indication on when Deezer plans to launch in the United States.