While there are plenty of music-streaming services already in play, high-end audio device vendor Bose believes it can do a little better than the others.
The company is reportedly planning on entering the streaming market, with the news breaking after a job posting from the company was found on job marketing website ZipRecruiter.
"We are seeking an expert Experience Designer to lead design and prototyping of our next-generation streaming music platform and ecosystem of products. [...] We will move quickly and have an immediate and lasting impact on Bose's streaming music products," said Bose in its job posting.
So Bose is entering the streaming market. The big question is what difference will it make to consumers, the industry and its own market strategy.
The news comes as rumors swirl surrounding the future of Beats under Apple's direction. Many expect Beats to be integrated into iTunes at some point in the future, putting Apple back in the digital music game as iTunes sales fall.
There is a parallel to be drawn between Apple's Beats and a streaming service that is already getting support from Bose. Both companies are large electronics companies that have the money to fund a streaming service that may not be as popular as they would hope right away. Not only that, but both Beats and Bose were, at least at a consumer level, headphone companies. While Apple is certainly much larger than Bose, Bose is still doing well for itself with its professional audio products.
Which leads to another point. Given Bose's history of creating professional audio products, both for the consumer and the professional audio world, can Bose give consumers something competing services cannot? The ability to stream lossless audio, perhaps? As Internet capabilities continually improve, it is becoming easier to stream larger files, which would not only be great for the audio nerds among us, but would also be in keeping with Bose's aura of quality.
It is important to note that Deezer does offer lossless audio streaming, as does a service called Tidal, suggesting Bose will need to offer something more on top of high-quality audio.
There is a debate in the music industry about music streaming. While there's no doubt music streaming is great for the consumer, these services are being offered at such low rates that it ends up affecting musicians and labels. Despite this, if Bose were to offer high-quality streaming at a lower rate than either of its two competitors, then it's likely that it would be a hit.
Bose has some power in the audio industry. It sells millions of headphones per year and provides professional audio in both live and studio situations. If the company is going to start a streaming service, it may start small, but it's sure to be a hit.
