Music Streaming Service Songza is Available in Canada

By: Kuljit Grewal  |   August 25th, 2012   |   Mobile Apps, News, O Canada

We recently shared that Swedish firm Spotify has all but confirmed that it will be expanding into Canada in the near future as it grows internationally (TQ was on it).  It seems that there was another popular and highly acclaimed streaming service that was already building a following in this great nation of ours since August 7, 2012.

 

Songza, officially launched in September of 2011 at Facebook’s f8 developers’ conference takes the approach that music steaming should involve as little thinking and planning as possible. According to founder and CEO Elias Roman, the process should be intuitive and based on how you are feeling at any given moment. Due to that premise, Roman refers to his company’s service as a ‘music concierge’, relying on expertly curated playlists that play based on your mood and situation at that time.

 

According to the FP, Songza has been downloaded 320,000 in the two weeks plus that they officially launched north of the border, and the New York firm is not done yet. Currently boasting eight full-time staff as well as 25 independent music consultants, the people tasked with curating playlists.

 

The main sticking point that has kept music streaming services out of Canada, and in the case of Pandora, caused them to leave has been exorbitantly high licensing rights. Permission must be secured with Re: Sound Music Licensing Co., a NFP that collects and distributes said rights.

 

Songza approached the negotiations with the view that they would do everything possible to comply with Re: Sound as Canada presented an excellent opportunity due to strong networks, copious amounts of mobile devices and cultural similarity to the U.S.

 

Terms of the deal were not made public, however if Canada proves to be profitable for Songza, we can expect other large music streaming services to expand here as well given that mobile usage and demand for music are extremely high.