AT&T has agreed to sell its Muve Music service to Deezer, a French streaming-music service. Muve was owned by Leap Wireless, which marketed wireless service through the Cricket brand and was last year acquired by AT&T in a deal that also included Muve Music. AT&T never invested in Muve, choosing instead to market the Beats Music service to its postpaid subscribers.
Despite AT&T’s partnership with Beats, its prepaid customers will continue to see a different music option. Cricket said it will discontinue the Muve offering on Feb. 7, and that by the end of this month will offer existing Muve customers a 15-day free trial of the Deezer app from Cricket service when they switch to Cricket’s GSM-based network service. Those customers also will be able to transfer their existing music libraries to the Deezer application, which after the free trial will cost customers $6 per month.
Streaming music is one example of service innovation that carriers are exploring as a way to monetize their networks. Leap was a frontrunner here, rolling the charges for Muve Music into its customers’ monthly wireless bills.
AT&T did not disclose the price that Deezer is paying for the Muve service. Muve offered songs for download, while Deezer offers a streaming service. Muve was also an Android-only service, while Deezer is compatible with a range of devices, including Bose and Sonos audio equipment.
It is not yet clear whether Deezer will retain the Muve brand. Muve was launched by Cricket four years ago, and was marketed as the first music experience designed for mobile phones.
