Samsung Milk Music's limited availability has not stopped it from winning more hearts as the music streaming app has been downloaded 380,000 times already, says a company's executive.
Samsung, the world leader in smartphones, tablets and other electronic goods, is sharing the success of its recently launched radio streaming service, Milk Music, by announcing it has reached 380,000 downloads in less than two months. The announcement was made by Samsung Media Solutions Center President Wonpyo Hong in an exclusive interview with Wall Street Journal published Sunday. The download figure is not 'that' impressive but considering the service is limited to Galaxy smartphones, it has created a buzz in the music streaming space.
Samsung launched Milk Music, a free music streaming service powered by Slacker, last month. The service currently does not offer any advertisements, but this was not expected to last long. It appears the time is finally approaching for Milk Music to integrate ads and add some premium features to lure music lovers into buying its upcoming paid model, Hong said during his interview.
The South Korean multinational company briefly published an inforgraphic about the premium Milk Music last week, but it has since been removed it from Samsung's website. The infographic gave a clear idea of what the tech giant has planned for its music streaming service, a part of which suggested the paid model will be available for users at $3.99 per month. The monthly charge will be to remove ads and offer "some exclusive features," but the phone maker also listed the free model with integrated ads for those who are not willing to pay for the service.
Milk Music is available on select Samsung handsets, including Samsung Galaxy S3, S4, S4 Zoom, S4 Active, S4 Mini, Note 2, and Note 3 smartphones, but Hong said the company plans to expand its accessibility to tablets and other phones soon, at the same time keep it tied to Samsung phones.
"At the moment, we'd like to create an experience uniquely on our device because the fundamental core part of our business is selling hardware," Hong said, GigaOm reports. "So the main purpose of this software innovation is to create value on our device."
If Samsung does launch the paid model for its Milk Music, it will be joining the likes of other services like Spotify, which charges a lot more, $10 per month. Another recent entry in the music streaming space is Beats Music, which offers paid-only version for $9.99 per month. Similarly, the leader in the radio streaming industry, Pandora, offers its paid services for $4.99 per month after a recent price hike of $1 last month.
