WeTransfer Looking to Start Their Own Music Streaming Service
File-sharing service WeTransfer are joining the music streaming war with plans to release exclusive tracks from big name artists.
WeTransfer announced last week that they would be joining the market of music streaming with their own dedicated player. They want to make it clear however that it is not a direct rival to services like Spotify and Apple Music, with the intent of acting as a marketing platform for creators.
The Dutch, bootstrapped company don’t plan to make any money from music but intend to use it to promote big acts and in turn their service, with reports that they are currently reaching out to artists like Justin Bieber, Pharrell and Madonna. The upcoming service may be new but working with musicians is not, WeTransfer having previously worked with acts from Prince to Disclosure.
On its place in the Music Streaming market, WeTransfer said: “To be clear, WeTransfer’s new music streaming-solution is not a direct competitor of SoundCloud, Spotify or other music-streaming platforms. Those are dedicated players. The streaming solution is very different and is primarily a marketing channel for the creator.”
WeTransfer also gave a hint at how the player would work, adding: “With this player, artists get a focused campaign to deliver their content to our massive audience. It is more of a complement to their activities on Spotify or SoundCloud.”
WeTransfer are able to provide 45 second advertisements through their website which rotates screen backgrounds for 45 seconds at a time. For actual content WeTransfer intend their music service to be used as a platform more for mixes, rough cuts and music videos rather than full length albums. Kadiks compared it to SoundCloud in that it’s open for anyone to post music to.
The player, expected for release in early 2016, is also going to used as a form of marketing for WeTransfer, hoping that this shift will set them apart from competitors like Dropbox. Marketing Executive Maarten Kadiks said: “We’re using music to put us on the map.”
Kadiks continues: “The service can become one of the most popular, alternative digital distribution channels for music content. Musicians we’re having conversations with understand the value of connecting with our audience of creative tastemakers.”