Sony Network Entertainment is tapping Spotify to make beautiful music part of the PlayStation Networks' line of media services, with the streaming music company fueling the new PlayStation Music that is arriving this spring.
Spotify will deliver over 30 million songs and 1.5 billion playlists, replacing Sony's Music Unlimited service, which is set to shut down on March 29.
PlayStation Network users expect Sony to deliver a solid music service, says Andrew House, president and group CEO of Sony Computer entertainment. Sony is trying to match those expectations by delivering the most compelling music experiences, he adds.
"This partnership represents the best in music and the best in gaming coming together, which will benefit the vibrant and passionate communities of both Spotify and PlayStation Network," says House. "We're thrilled to make Spotify the foundation of our strategy with PlayStation Music."
On the other side of the deal, Spotify CEO and founder Daniel Ek says he's honored to work with Sony to deliver an amazing experience to gamers.
"As a gamer and PlayStation 4 user myself, I'm super-excited to be able to soundtrack my FIFA 15 Arsenal matches later this spring."
PS Music joins streaming video service PlayStation Video, the PlayStation Plus' game collection club, the streaming rental platform PlayStation Now and the re-branded PlayStation Video -- the service formerly known as Video Unlimited.
Vue, Sony's Internet TV service, will also join the lineup of PlayStation's media services and may be the most intriguing of Sony's upcoming media services. PlayStation Vue will rival Dish Network's incoming Sling TV as the competitors seek to push live TV deeper into the World Wide Web.
Sony plans to launch the commercial version of PlayStation Vue in the first quarter of 2015 for PlayStation consoles and plans to bring the Internet TV services to third-party devices later. The Vue beta version has already arrived to select PlayStation 3 and 4 owners in New York, Chicago and Philadelphia.
For just the cost of a "fair and competitive price" each month, according to Sony, Vue subscribers will have access to content from the following six networks: CBS; Discovery (the Discovery Channel, TLC, Animal Planet); Fox (FX, FXX, National Geographic); NBC Universal (CNBC, NBCSN, Syfy, USA); Scripps (HGTV, Food Network, the Travel Channel); and Viacom (BET, CMT, Comedy Central).
