MOG Gets $9.5M, Expands Into Spotify Territory
(Updated) Music discovery and subscription service MOG.com has announced another $9.5 million in funding and a pending expansion into Europe. The round was led by Menlo Ventures which was joined by new investor Balderton Capital. Dharmash Mistry, partner at Balderton Capital, has been appointed to MOG’s board. The company had raised $12.5 million in previous rounds.
MOG also announced that it will launch in the UK by the end of the second quarter. The UK is one of rival Spotify's most successful markets; and with Spotify thus far kept out of the U.S., it's the first time the two services will go head to head.
MOG will try to counter Spotify's premium model with paid access to a 7 million track catalog of music that includes all four majors. One label exec told Hypebot that he is supportive of MOG not just for it's paid model, but also because it offers far more options for music discovery than its competitors.
MOG's Free Trial Extended (Plus A Video Tour):
In addition, the MOG All Access free trial will be extended from one hour to three days. “Since we launched MOG All Access in December, we’ve seen an incredible 17% user conversion from the free trial which proves how much people like the service,” said David Hyman, founder and CEO of MOG.
MOG is home to more than 1,000 music blogs covering everything from pop to jazz to blues to country and comprising the largest music ad network on the web. MOG provides a single destination for people to discover and enjoy millions of songs and to immerse themselves in music content including news, reviews, playlists and lyrics.
And…. they’re off! This should be a good showdown to watch, nonetheless.
The race to the bottom on ‘all you can eat’ streaming pricing has begun.
Rhapsody comes out of the gate and takes the early lead… but wait, here comes a better UI from Europe called Spotify… hold on, a $5/month price point from MOG has just kicked them into gear. They’re neck and neck down the stretch.
Rhapsody is LOSING subscribers and falling back fast.
MOG is making a charge…
They all lower their prices to bare bones to keep up…
New competitors are now popping up.
And the winner is: The Music Fan!
The losers are: The investors in these companies.
Inevitable? I think so. But good for the music fan.
The mistake that Spotify made was raising a whole bunch of money BEFORE getting into the US market. Those Labels were just waiting at the border to hold them up at gun point. “So, I see you’ve raised a bunch of money, eh?”
I do like the features that are built in to discover new artists. As far as this being the preferred listening platform of the future, I certainly have my doubts. But I will be watching.
Tom Siegel
http://www.indieleap.com
I like it! I like it a lot. You know exactly what you’re talking about, exactly where other people are coming from on this issue. I’m glad that I had the fortune to stumble across your blog. Its definitely an important issue that not enough people are talking about and I’m glad that I got the chance to see all the angles
Rhapsody comes out of the gate and takes the early lead… but wait, here comes a better UI from Europe called Spotify… hold on, a $5/month price point from MOG has just kicked them into gear. They’re neck and neck down the stretch.
I’m glad that I had the fortune to stumble across your blog. Its definitely an important issue that not enough people are talking about and I’m glad that I got the chance to see all the angles.