Deezer, a France-based internet music streaming service that seeks to replicate Spotify's success, has confirmed it will launch in the UK this month and is already working on one or more partnerships with major broadband ISPs (much like Spotify and Virgin Media).

On the surface Deezer appears to be almost identical to Spotify, much as you might expect in the tightly Rights Holder controlled market of music licensing, although there are some distinct differences. For one thing Deezer is an entirely web-based service and does not require users to download client software.


Deezer currently has over 1.2 million paying customers on its premium package (20 million users total) and notes that the service only really took off after it signed a deal with Orange [ISP] in France, which doubled its subscribers. It remains to be seen whether they can do the same over here, especially given Spotify's more established presence.

Deezer UK Packages

* Discovery Mode - FREE
Description: Restrictive ad-funded service with radio channels and music on demand in 30-sec clips.

* Premium - £4.99 a month
Description: Unlimited desktop music streaming with no ads.

* Premium Plus - £9.99 a month
Description: Unlimited desktop and handheld (mobile phones etc.) music streaming, both online and offline, with no ads.

Deezer's free service appears to fall a bit short and, by itself, might struggle to tempt existing Spotify users away. Otherwise its prices and service options look extremely similar. Sadly at the time of writing we do not know which ISPs are looking to partner with Deezer, although it's a fair bet that Virgin Media won't be one of them.