Orange and Deezer, the European specialist in music streaming, are teaming up to provide Orange customers with the first mobile and internet offers to include Deezer’s Premium service. The two Groups are said to be working to create closer ties between “Wormee”, Orange’s music streaming service, and Deezer, resulting in Orange taking out a minority stake in Deezer.
From September onwards, Orange and Deezer will include Deezer Premium in the Orange mobile and ADSL offers, said to be a first on the French market. Deezer Premium is a paid musical streaming service which provides unlimited access to a catalogue of more than 7 million tracks of all genres with no advertising and High Quality audio. It is available on mobile devices and a wide range of terminals.
The offer is said to be the first major demonstration of Orange’s new content strategy, based on strong partnerships for the benefit of Orange customers.
For Deezer, the agreement is said to provide a major opportunity to extend the success of its premium offers to the mass market, leveraging the service’s customer satisfaction rate of nearly 90%. The partnership will also facilitate the development of the digital music market by building on the government-led “HADOPI” and “Carte Musique Jeunes” initiatives.
Orange and Deezer are also working on combining their music streaming services to ramp up Deezer’s development by capitalising on Wormee’s rapid growth. The deal is scheduled to be finalised in the coming weeks, once conditions precedent have been lifted.
Raoul Roverato, Orange’s Executive Vice President of New Growth Activities, said: “This partnership will enhance our offer by giving us the opportunity to provide our customers with the best of music, inclusive in their internet or mobile package. Orange is also delighted to be joining forces with France’s leading music streaming player, and also its most dynamic competitor.”
Laurence Le Ny, Head of Orange’s Music Content, added: “Following the success of our mobile-integrated music download offers, we are proud to launch these new offers with our partner Deezer and contribute to the development of music across all digital media.”
According to Deezer’s founder Daniel Marhely: “Deezer was the first site to legally distribute free music online. Deezer created a new revolution in access to music: Millions of songs, your playlists and your favourite albums are available anytime and anywhere on your mobile.”
Axel Dauchez, Deezer’s Managing Director, said: “The movement towards unlimited music consumption by subscription is under way. I am delighted to see Orange speeding up its implementation. With this deal, music is once again central to French telecom operator strategies.”