If you are a MOG subscriber, then you would have heard that its owner Beats by Dr Dre is shutting down the service on April 15 to make way for its new Beats Music service. So, what does this mean for Australian subscribers of MOG – who signed up as part of a deal with Telstra? Well, there’s some good news and some bad news.
The bad news is that Telstra will also be shutting down MOG – whether or not it will shut down on April 15 is unknown. The good news is that it will be replaced with Beats Music, with a launch (hopefully) before June 30. Telstra is also hoping to become the second country to launch Beats Music.
This information comes from a forum post on the Telstra’s CrowdSupport website by the general manager of Telstra’s Entertainment Group, Ryan Kaveney – which was found by a Gizmodo Australia reader. Kaveney writes:
Beats Music will launch in the US in a few weeks time and only be available in that country.
Beats Music will eventually replace MOG as a product, we are likely to launch Beats later this year (pre June 30) and will be the 2nd country in the world to do so. There is a lot of work which is required with technology/legal/product/content which is ongoing to make the service the best possible experience for Australians and not just a direct copy of what is available in the US. We will certainly be looking after our current MOG subscribers!
As with any new product and partnerships there are many things which need to remain confidential until the appropriate timing is right, but we expect to have an outstanding offer in market with Beats Music and we believe it will be the best music streaming product in the market.
In a statement, a Telstra spokesperson confirmed that they are bringing Beats Music to Australia. “When it comes to MOG in Australia we can’t reveal too much at this stage except to say we are very excited to be bringing Beats Music to Australian listeners this year,” a Telstra spokesperson said.
We have contacted Beats to provide some more information about what is happening with Beats Music and MOG in Australia – but at least this is a start.