June 20, 2008

By By Aymeric Pichevin, Paris

French all-you-can-eat music service MusicMe's on-demand streaming offering is now free of charge. Until now, the service, which launched in 2006, was accessible for ?9.95 ($15) per month.

Now renamed musicMe free, the streaming site offers 3.5 million tracks licensed from the four majors and 760 independent labels. Registered users can listen to each track up to three times.

The decision to make it free seemed mandatory considering the success of competing ad-supported on-demand streaming services, such as local site Deezer.

Meanwhile, the cost of musicMe's non-permanent unlimited download offer -- based on Microsoft's PlaysforSure technology -- has been lowered from ?14.95 ($23) to ?9.90 ($15) per month.

"Today's digital music economy does not allow on-demand offers to be financed only by advertising and direct marketing," said musicMe co-founder Ludovic Leu in a statement. "It is essential for a music service such as musicMe to consolidate its business model by mixing revenues from advertising and from subscriptions."

MusicMe claims 1.1 million unique visitors per month and says 25,000 people have already tested the subscription offer.

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