Sony is adding Spotify to the PlayStation line, and killing off its Music Unlimited streaming service:
Sony’s on-demand music-streaming service, initially known as Qriocity, was launched in 2010 in the UK and Ireland, eventually expanding to a total of 19 countries. It went through a couple of different forms and integrations into Sony’s wider online media networks until, it seems, Sony finally threw its hands up and decided to make music streaming someone else’s problem.
Third-party streaming services, such as Spotify and Rdio, have proved more popular than services offered by hardware manufacturers, with Nokia’s Ovi one of the casualties back in 2011. Sony is unusual among the big tech and media brands in that it produces both hardware — TVs, consoles and so on — and content, thanks to its movie studio and record label. But that hasn’t guaranteed success.
When Music Unlimited launched over four years ago, I took one look at it and sarcastically remarked, “This has ‘win’ written all over it.”
On the other hand, Sony has scored a bit of a coup, being the first to get Spotify on a gaming console.
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