MUMBAI: Nokia MixRadio, which is already available in 31 countries, will become the first global music streaming service to venture into China. Launching next week, the service will be available to the world’s market.
With 80 per cent of the population subscribing to the internet- 500 million people accessing the net through mobile devices- the service will be venturing to the largest global market for music streaming.
MixRadio will provide a legal alternative for free or premium versions for the equivalent of $3.99 a month. The popular belief that Chinese do not have much regard for licenses, owing to the rampant piracy issue in the country, is something that the service hopes to put to rest.
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Influential Chinese musicians like Khalil Fong, Tia Ray and DJ Wordy have been hired by Nokia MixRadio to curate playlists of local music. The service will act like an ad-free personalised radio station.
China, at this point, appears to be a viable market, given that internet users in the country will account for almost a quarter of the total global user base. As for the launch of the streaming service next week, Nokia will be targeting a massive global population. Pandora has an audience of 150 million in the three countries that it is available in, while Apple’s iRadio caters to 20 million users in two countries.
Nokia was reportedly claimed to having received 1 million pre-orders for its first Android-based phone-the Nokia X in China on its Weibo (Chinese equivalent of Twitter) account. The company drew the conclusion because Chinese retailer JD.com allowed registered users to click on a ‘pre-order’ button without filling up any form, or paying a booking amount.
