Spotify on PlayStation
March 30, 2015
Sony and Spotify have launched their PlayStation Music streaming service in 41 countries, making it available for PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 games consoles as well as Sony’s smartphones and tablets.
Replacing Music Unlimited, the Sony-branded streaming music service that launched in 2010, but has now been axed by the company in favour of a partnership with Spotify
PlayStation Music is essentially Spotify, but redesigned for the TV screen and PlayStation controller devices. It will be available as a free, advertising-supported service or a premium subscription, with people able to sign up from their consoles, including a 30-day trial of the premium tier.
“It’s a third-party service given first-party priority on the platform,” Murray Pannell, PlayStation marketing director for the UK and Ireland, told the Guardian during a demonstration of the new app ahead of its launch. As on desktop and mobile devices, Spotify’s latest incarnation is split between “Browse” and “Your Music”. The former focuses on curated playlists sorted by genre, mood and activity, while the latter is users’ own playlists. “We’ve optimised the experience for the big screen. We’ve been looking at how to make Spotify available on smart TVs and other non-mobile devices, and for us this is the pinnacle experience in terms of big screens,” said Spotify’s head of global product marketing.