Deezer enters US, can it find a niche in a crowded market?

After nine years of operation, French music subscription service Deezer finally entered the US market yesterday. It has only had a limited presence in the world’s largest music market, sold to AT&T Inc.’s Cricket Wireless customers or on Sonos and Bose speaker systems.

It makes itself available Stateside for $10 a month to all US consumers after 30-day free trials. 

Its CEO Hans-Holger Albrecht says he’s not phased by the fact that Spotify, Apple Music and Tidal already have a strong footprint in that market. 

He says Deezer has a number of stand-apart features that will appeal. Its catalogue of 40 million tracks is larger than its competitors. It has more local music from around the world, which makes it endearing to those wanting to find new music they can’t access elsewhere.

Its flagship feature “Flow” allows users with the click of a button to create a personalised playlist based on their taste and listening habits.

“Flow” was part of Deezer’s recent major facelift aimed to make navigation by users simpler and quicker. “Flow” is accompanied by select “Channels” encapsulating 20 different genres dedicated playlists (based also on which country the user is from), artists, selected albums, new releases, and radio stations aimed at that music’s style. 

Live Radio offers easy access to best radio programs, and offers a “Fingerprinting” feature, which allows users to identify and tag a song that is being played and add it to their favourite playlist.

Deezer has 6 million subscribers worldwide and 15 million users. It enters the US at a time when its rivals are fighting aggressively for a share of the market. Sweden’s Spotify, which has 30 million paying subscribers worldwide and 70 million free users, arrived in the US in 2011. Apple Music launched last year and has 15 million subscribers. Tidal has 4.2 million. 

It also has to contend with Alphabet Inc’s Google Play Music and YouTube Red (both at $10 a month). Amazon.com is about to launch its own $10-a-month service, while music video platform Vevo LLC and internet-radio Pandora Media Inc. are also to roll out new paid services this year.