Swedish music streaming service Spotify has made its entry into the Australian market, with high-profile brand partners including Virgin Mobile, Commonwealth Bank and McDonald's.
Carlton United Brewers, Fairfax Media websites Daily Life and The Vine, and Ninemsn are also launch partners.
Spotify allows users to stream music digitally across a variety of devices. The free service is ad-supported while two subscription tiers are ad-free.
Ad formats available to brands include audio and digital formats, rich media formats, campaigns that centre on the Spotify catalogue and advertiser pages.
Spotify signalled its intentions for the local market when it hired former YouTube boss Kate Vale to head its Australian operations late last year.
Vale said: “Spotify offers advertisers a highly engaged, passionate, and socially active audience who are doing the thing they love the most – listening to music.
“Pairing audio with visual advertising is not only one of the most powerful forms of marketing online, it's also a unique new addition to the Australian advertising market.”
Virgin Mobile marketing director David Scribner said: “We are proud to announce Virgin Mobile has partnered with Spotify as the exclusive telco partner. With our strong music heritage and passion for stellar tunes, we think it's only fair that our customers have access to great music wherever they are. We feel there is a really natural fit between the two brands.”
Of the Virgin partnership, Vale adds: “It's fantastic to have a perfectly aligned brand like Virgin Mobile partnering with Spotify in Australia. True to form they have created some fun, quirky content that reflects our shared love of music, sharing and socialisation.”
The digital music market is heating up with JB Hifi's Now service as well as Rdio and DMD all offering similar propositions.
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