As reported by Reuters, Korean tech giant Samsung is talking to Paris-based music service Deezer about a partnership or investment stake. Though such an alliance wouldn’t be as clear-cut as the arrangement between Beats Music and AT&T, it makes sense and is intriguing.
Deezer has a portfolio of regional telecom bundling around the world, including partnerships with Deutsche Telekom, Orange, and Everything Everywhere. As we’ve noted before, music-telecom bundling wins for both sides, giving the phone carrier an already-built in-house music service, and putting a locked-in user base one click away from subscribing to the music service. Deezer is headed for expansion to the U.S. market this year, where the existing competition for listeners is crushing. Some kind of telecom hook-up would be desirable.
Samsung is best known to U.S. consumers as a device maker (smartphones, TVS), but is also a network LTE provider and infrastructure partner to phone companies.