Sonos Launching Music Curation Service For Businesses
Sonos is extending into the world of music curation, offering a new ‘Pro’ subscription service that gives public-facing businesses a stream of royalty-free music, and the ability to remotely manage groups of smart speakers.
Sonos Pro rolled out in the US overnight, and will launch in global markets soon. For US$35 a month, per location, users will have a web-based dashboard that can separate various speakers into groups, and pipe royalty-free music in whatever ‘mood’ the business is seeking.
Gyms can blast upbeat dance music without paying performance royalties, while cafes can control the vibe with a more measured selection. Businesses can control which employees can access the controls, while chain stores can even control the music between different venues through one dashboard – or keep all speakers uniform across the country.
Sonos is no doubt hoping this service will help them shift their new Era 100 and Era 300 speakers.
It won’t, however, make them popular within the music industry – given they are stealing away public broadcast royalties from artists already struggling with the infiltration of streaming.
Of course, this does seem like a largely pointless service, so its possible it won’t even reach our shores after its US rollout.
