Samsung Electronics (SEC) joined hands with Bugs to supply over 3.6 million music contents as it previously did with Soribada. SEC will make more than 3.6 million music contents of Bugs available for the app exclusively for the ‘Omnidirectional 360 Audio’ scheduled to be released in April. After the Mobile Communication Division joined forces with Soribada to launch the ‘Milk’ service, the Visual Display (VD) Division secured the music contents of Bugs. As a result, SEC quickly emerged as a large distribution channel in the music market.
According to industry insiders on February 9, SEC is planning to supply over 3.6 million Korean and foreign sound sources owned by Bugs to ‘Multi-room 2.0,’ an app exclusively for the Omnidirectional 360 Audio. “We are planning to supply the sound sources of Bugs to the Omnidirectional 360 Audio, which has the same user interface (UI) as Milk, and provide customers with the kind of music they like,” said an SEC insider. “We are currently discussing detailed conditions like price.” Related article on page 3
This egg-shaped audio is a strategic product that the VD Division of SEC emphasizes this year along with the SUHD TV. It implements the ‘multi-room audio’ that makes it possible to use the ‘Mesh Network’ technology, which connects several devices to a single WiFi network, and enjoy audios scattered in several locations as if they were on a single audio.
As it is connected to ‘Multi-room 2.0,’ an exclusive app in the final stage of development, via WiFi, it allows users to listen to not only the sound sources stored in the smartphone, but also sound sources and streaming services like Neowiz Internet’s ‘Bugs,’ European streaming service ‘Deezer’ and TuneIn on the omnidirectional audio.
Neowiz Internet is thought to have recently updated the functions of Bugs in consideration of its use in SEC’s devices. A while ago Neowiz Internet added a new function to Bugs, which makes it possible to listen to 800,000 CD-quality sound sources in the WiFi environment.
A music industry insider said, “Neowiz Internet is discussing with music copyright trust organizations to put Bugs’ app into the new audio product of SEC, and the deal will come through pretty soon.”
About this partnership the music industry said that the music listening devices’ expansion from smartphones to various devices would have a positive influence on the music industry. A music copyright organization insider said, “The increasing number of devices for listening to music is also desirable for the entire music industry.”
SEC’s Omnidirectional 360 Audio consists of the fixed ‘Solo (WAM7500)’ and the mobile ‘Movable (WAM6500),’ and they are priced at over KRW550,000 and KRW450,000 respectively. These products are the strategic products of 2015 that the VD Division developed in the ‘Audio Lab’ in California, US. They will be spearheading the transfer of SEC’s influence in the TV market to audio.
A market research firm SensiAn Research predicted that the wireless audio market will grow by 28% a year on average by 2020. It is in the limelight as a new blue ocean in audio-visual (AV) consumer electronics. Not only Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics, but also leaders of the audio market like Denon, Bose and Harman are expanding related businesses.