Deezer CEO Axel Dauchez made a counter-intuitive remark in an interview at the MIDEM conference in Cannes, France. Most people regard the U.S. market as well-ploughed, deeply seeded territory populated with swarms of music services trying to differentiate from each other and attract audiences. Dauchez’s view is more like an open field:
“The [U.S] market is still virgin. Nothing has really been done. The only ones who has really cracked the music subscription business is Sirius. Mass penetration is very low compared to all the money that has been invested, so the game is very open in the U.S.”
The comment came in response to a request for Deezer’s timetable for opening the service to U.S. users. Dauchez was vague, nonchalant, and jocular in response.
The Deezer exec also had interesting remarks regarding the cost of music subscription services, including his own. The standard price point for the broad platforms with many millions of on-demand tracks is $10 (or 10 euros) per month. Dauchez thinks that’s an outstanding value, but that there is also room on the downside to attract new users. He speculated about levels of service priced at five dollars and one dollar per month. “The initial step is too big,” he said. Read the entire interview here.