Report: Tesla Wants to Make its Own Music Streaming Service

Tesla is in talks to produce its own music streaming service, which would be included in Tesla cars, according to a report.

“Music industry sources say the carmaker has had talks with all of the major labels about licensing a proprietary music service that would come bundled with its cars, which already come equipped with a high-tech dashboard and internet connectivity,” Recode reported on Thursday. “Label sources aren’t clear about the full scope of Tesla’s ambitions, but believe it is interested in offering multiple tiers of service, starting with a Pandora-like web radio offering.”

“The bigger question: Why doesn’t Tesla simply integrate existing services, like Spotify or Apple Music, into all of its cars from the start — especially since Tesla already does a deal with Spotify for Teslas sold outside the U.S.?” the report continued.

“We believe it’s important to have an exceptional in-car experience so our customers can listen to the music they want from whatever source they choose,” a Tesla spokesperson told Recode. “Our goal is to simply achieve maximum happiness for our customers.”

Several companies have attempted to create their own music streaming services, sometimes losing millions of dollars in the process.

In September, it was reported that Jay-Z’s Tidal music streaming service had lost $28 million in 2015.

“Tidal’s business philosophy, that artists should be compensated fairly for the streaming of their music, was a direct jab at Spotify and Pandora, who have increasingly come under fire for paying fractions of pennies per stream to their artists,” explained Breitbart News’ Daniel Nussbaum in 2015, after it was reported that Tidal had started to “flop.”

 

Nussbaum continued:

In response, Tidal tried to position itself to be the service that would be “fair” to its artists; but the company chose massive music superstars like Beyoncé and Alicia Keys to be its spokesmen. It’s fair to say that consumers don’t really “feel for” artists that take home millions from their music every year.

Compounding the new service’s problem was its price; while not necessarily “expensive” (Spotify’s premium service costs $10), Tidal’s $20 per month higher-definition audio plan is useless for most people. That’s because most people literally cannot hear the differencebetween high-definition audio (1411kbps) and digital-quality audio (320kbps).

In October, Amazon also launched a music streaming service, while in 2015 YouTube revealed YouTube Music in an attempt to take on Spotify and Apple Music.

Charlie Nash is a reporter for Breitbart Tech. You can follow him on Twitter @MrNashington or like his page at Facebook.