Pandora, iHeartRadio, Livio and others are not the only services aiming at the automotive dashboard. On-demand music streaming service Mog is announcing integration with BMW’s Mini line and iPTV sets from makers like LG, Samsung and Vizio. It will now be a preinstalled feature on their new TVs. The service will also become available on Sonos, a wireless system for managing music throughout the home. Mog is already available on computers, iPhone, iPod Touch, Android and Roku.
Like Pandora and the others, Mog’s controls on the Mini are integrated into the dashboard’s display. It’s activated by hooking up a smartphone through the car’s Mini Connected system.
Mog users paying $5 will get access through their TVs. A $10 subscription will be charged for Sonos and the Mini, which also offers support for Pandora and its own iPhone app using TuneIn Radio.
David Hyman, Mog’s founder, told the NY Times “the car is the holy grail” for digital music companies because it was where people did most of their listening. “When you are thinking about buying into a cloud-based music service,” Hyman said, “I imagine you asking yourself, ‘Can I use this on my phone? Can I use it in my car? Will it work in my new TV?’ The value of these services goes up the more places consumers can access you.”
Mog says the BMW deal is the first integration of an on-demand music service into a car. The Berkeley, CA-based company was founded in 2005 as a social networking site and changed in late 2009 into a subscription streaming service, offering 10 million songs at rates of $5 a month for music on PCs alone, or $10 for additional access through mobile devices.
And like Pandora, Mog has developed a feature that combines on-demand and personalized music service—when a digital slider is moved to one side, a stream of one artist’s music will gradually add in similar music.
RBR-TVBR observation: Most iPTV sets are now preloaded with streaming services like Netflix and Pandora, so this announcement is indicative of a bigger trend: Everything internet is becoming available on every device—regardless of that device’s primary service. Like Hyman noted, the value of these services goes up the more places consumers can access you. So getting services and offerings pre-bundled into consumer electronics devices not only represents a new revenue stream, but a new business model.
